*     m 


^     o 


HOLM'S   

ASSIMILATION^ 

OR  THE 

FADING  LEOPARD'S  SPOTS 


A  Complete  Scientific   Exposition   of   the  Most  Tre- 
mendous Question  that  has  ever  confronted 
two  races  in  the  •world's  history 

By 

PROF.  JOHN  JAMES  HOLM 


INCLUDING  a  Resume  by  the  following  noted  Afro- Americans, 
prepared  by  them  for  this  book: 

Rev.  John  H.  White.  D.  D.  Dr.  James  E.  Shepard 

Prof.  George  E.  Davis,  Ph.  D.  Prof.  William  Ptckens 

Bishop  AlexanderWalters,  A.  M.,  D.  D.  James  E.  McGirt 

Anna  D.  Borden  Sophia  Cox  Johnson 

Bishop  J.  W.  Smith.  D.  D.  Rev.  J.  W.  Wood,  D.  D. 


Profusely  Illustrated  with  nearly   100  Half- 
tones, including  many  striking  original 
drawings  by  the  author 


Published  Exclusively 
By 

J.  L.  NICHOLS  &  COMPANY 

Naperville,  111.  Atlanta,  Ga. 

AGENTS   WANTED 


COPYRIGHTED,  1910, 

BY 
PROF.  JOHN  J.  HOLM 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE 15 

INTRODUCTION.       By     Marion      Edward 

Church 19 

I.    THE  BLOOD  OF  HAM  AND  JAPHETH 25 

Our  Position — Ancient  History — Noah  and 
the  Flood — Variety  and  Union — The  Three 
Divisions  of  the  Races — Aryan,  Semitic, 
Hamitic — The  Kinky-haired  Hamite  —  Was 
Buddha  a  Kinky-haired  Negro? — The  Negro 
— He  Again  Attains  Civilization — Mr.  Roose- 
velt Says  That  There  Will  be  a  White  Africa 
— He  Helped  to  Enslave  Himself — Facts 
Briefly  Stated  —  Classifying  the  American 
Negro. 

II.     CONFLICTING  ELEMENTS  OF  PROGRESS.  ...     45 

Lack  of  Confidence — Underground  Current 
— Whites  Disappointed  in  Them — No  Cheap 
Labor — Commercial  Growth — The  Negro  Dis- 
covers He  is  Needed — He  Goes  to  the  City — 
We  Deplore  the  Fact — A  Cry  for  More  Ef- 
ficient Labor — Foreign  Immigration  will  Prove 
a  Blessing  to  the  Negro — The  Negro  Must  be 
Treated  with  an  Object. 

III.    THE  "SMART  NEGRO" 58 

How  Knowledge  Spread — The  Old  Planta- 
tion Schools — Chivalrous  Spirits — They  Are 
Bound  to  Rise — May  As  Well  Confess  It — 
Not  Weak  and  Helpless — Will  Not  Submit 
to  Wiles  of  White  Relatives— Would  be  No 
Race  Question— The  White  Man's  Blood— 
The  White  Man  Stands  Accused  Before  God 
— Negro  Cannot  be  Deported — An  Endless 
Relationship  Between  the  Races  in  the  South 
— Give  Credit  Where  It  Is  Due — Some  Smart 
Negroes.  (Honorable  Frederick  Douglass,  Dr. 
Booker  T.  Washington,  Honorable  P.  B.  S. 
Pinchback,  Honorable  Theophile  T.  Allain, 
Rev.  Henry  McNeal  Turner,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. ; 
Rev.  Lemuel  Hayes,  A.  M. ;  Honorable 
5 


2201122 


6  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Josiah  T.  Settle,  A.  B.,  A.  M.,  LL.  B. ;  Col- 
onel Robert  Harlem,  Samuel  Jefferson  Davis, 
Rev.  Bartlett  Taylor,  Bishop  James  Varick.) 
—The  Full-blooded  Negro  Has  Talent. 
IV.    EDUCATION  AND  EQUALITY 87 

Education  in  a  Republic  Means  Equality — 
Brute  Force  May  be  Used — The  Japanese 
May  Own  the  Southern  States — A  Great 
Army  of  Children — What  Then? — Southern 
White  Illiteracy — Darkest  Africa  in  America 
— Inequality  and  Education  a  Transparent 
Doctrine — What  Japanese  Think  of  It. 

V.    THE  COLOR  LINE 112 

Do  Not  Champion  the  Negro  at  the  Ex- 
pense of  Southern  Whites — Hard  Things 
Hurled  at  Negro's  Friends — A  Highly  Censur- 
able Act — Would  Denounce  Jesus — The  Fif- 
teenth Amendment — Gap  Just  as  Wide  Be- 
tween Negro  and  White — Indians  and  Negroes 
Vote — Tillman  Does  Not  Want  the  Negro's 
Heel  on  His  Neck — Color  Line  in  Politics — 
They  Rub  in  the  Color  Line — The  Negro's 
Place  —  Another  Anti-Negro  Philosopher — 
A  Broad,  Unbiased  Investigation  —  God's 
Finger  of  Approval  is  Upon  the  Mulatto. 

VI.    NORTHERN  PREJUDICE 134 

A  Scattered  Few  Hold  Color  Line  in  Con- 
tempt—The Color  Line  Fever— The  Color 
Line  Among  Spanish  War  Veterans — The 
Colored  Gentleman — Colored  Children  of  the 
Gentleman — A  Bad  Element  Not  a  Credit. 
VII.  COLOR  AGAINST  WHITE 147 

A  Wrong  Feeling— A  Fraternal  Spirit  and 
a  Tie  that  Binds— What  Can  be  the  First 
Cause  of  the  Impending  Social  Eruption? — 
They  Have  Kindled  Their  Own  Fire— The 
Dangerous  Class  of  Negroes— Secret  Orders 
Among  the  Negroes — Fundamental  Doctrine — 
The  Pink-skinned  Man  is  His  Friend — Love 
Begets  Love — A  Terrible  Day  for  America. 

VIII.    CRIME,  LAW  AND  PUNISHMENT 171 

Eye  for  Eye,  Tooth  for  Tooth— The  Most 
Outrageous  Practice — Horrors  in  American 
Prisons— United  States  Penal  System  is  a 
Failure— Who  Makes  the  Criminals  ?— The 
Lynch  Law— The  Negro  as  a  Criminal— Few 
Outrages  Committed  in  the  North— Why?— 


CONTENTS  7 

OH  AFTER  AljIS 

Who  Does  the  Lynching  in  the  South?— The 
Substitute  for  Lynch  Law— A  Kind  of  Mock 
Trial  — Virginia  Has  Such  a  Law  — State 
Eunuch  Institutions  —  The  Sterilization  of 
Criminals — Contrary  to  Divine  Law — Are  the 
Jungles  Calling  Him  Back? 

IX.    THE  TEMPERAMENTS 200 

The  Mental  Temperament— The  Vital  Tem- 
perament— The  Motive  Temperament. 

X.    THE  BRAIN  AND  THE  MIND 216 

The  Making  of  a  Perfect  Man— Brain  and 
Mind— Results  When  Mental  Dissimilarities 
Cross  — Skull  and  Brain  Growth  —  Cranial 
Capacity  of  the  Races— What  Indicates  Mental 
Power?— The  Size  of  the  Head. 
XI.  DISSEMINATION  AND  ATTRACTION 228 

Dissimilarities  Affiliate  for  Evolutionary 
Growth— The  Law  of  Species— The  Divine 
Plan  of  Man's  Redemption — The  Garden  of 
Eden — Would  Experience  a  Calamity — Dis- 
semination Grows  Stronger — There  is  a  Divine 
Purpose  in  Mixing — Is  Outrageous,  Yet  Divine. 

XII.  RACE  INTEGRITY 245 

The  Race  Integrity  Crank— The  Man  Who 
Is  Not  a  Negro — Would  Encourage  Inter- 
marriage— Nature  Always  Endeavors  to  Pro- 
duce Her  Best — Was  Never  Taken  Seriously 
— Thousands  Are  Not  Negroes — A  Woman 
Endures  a  Man's  Embrace — Race  Integrity 
'Nothing  But  a  Fad — One  Race  Says  Maximo 
Gomez — Race  Pride  is  a  Political  Issue  South. 

XIII.  THE  ANTI-MISCEGENATION  MOVEMENT..  263 

Editorials  From  Prominent  Southern  Papers 
— Professor  Holm  Writes  Hon.  Harris  Dick- 
son — Honorable  Harris  Dickson  Answers — 
Membership  in  the  Anti-Miscegenation  League 
— Information  Blank — Professor  Holm  Ans- 
wers Dickson,  Defending  His  Position — Off- 
spring Must  Constitute  Legal  Marriage  — 
Those  Who  Live  Together  Must  Marry — 
Some  Whites  Are  Unduly  Attracted  Ama- 
torially — There  is  Plenty  of  Evidence. 

XIV.  SOCIAL  VICE  VERSUS   LEGAL   INTERMAR- 

RIAGE    279 

Unnatural  Conditions  Between  the  Races 
the  Cause  of  Vice — Is  Shocking,  Indeed — The 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGfi 


Ethical  Side  Must  be  Considered — Forbidden 
Fruit  is  Sweetest — All  Races  Melted  Together 
Here — Evidences  of  Forty-five  Years'  Illicit 
Mixing — Cannot  Prevent  Love  But  Would 
Not  Advise  Marriage — Should  be  No  Admix- 
ture of  Racial  Stock — The  Men  Who  Are 
Bent  on  Mixing — Compelled  to  Advocate 
Legal  Intermarriage — The  True  State  of  the 
Colored  Woman — Frederick  Douglass  Saw  It 
— Intermarriage  Prohibitions  are  Degrading — 
The  Colored  Man  Would  Receive  Social 
Justice — Our  Marriage  Laws  are  Outrageous 
— Where  Indians  and  Whites  Marry — A  Polit- 
ical Change  Means  Social  Elevation  and  Sal- 
vation— Love  Between  the  Sexes  of  the  Races 
is  Conducive  to  Home  Life — Why  the  Law  is 
Powerless. 

XV.    WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  POWER . .  333 

A  Perfect  Posterity  Should  be  the  Aim — 
Children  a  Necessary  Evil — Single  Blessed- 
ness— Women  Will  Propose — Women's  Suf- 
frage Would  Prove  of  Benefit  to  Man — They 
Will  Solve  the  Race  Question — Racial  Purity 
—What  Is  It?— A  Bad  Kind  of  Mixing— The 
Greatest  Thing  is  Love — The  Hope  of  the 
World — An  Appeal  to  Noble  Womanhood — 
Facts  Are  Stubborn. 

XVI.     SCIENTIFIC  ADAPTATION  OF  WHITE  AND 

COLOR 357 

A  Superbly  Mated  Pair — A  Mismated  Ex- 
ample— Almost  a  Colored  Venus — Examples 
of  Physical  and  Mental  Degeneracy — How 
Much  Better  Not  Thus  Born— Phrenological 
Location  of  the  Social  Evil — Offspring  of 
Right  Crossing — Offspring  Alone  Constitutes 
True  Marriage. 

XVII.    BEAUTIFUL  EXAMPLES  ILLUSTRATED 379 

The  Mating  of  Superior  Dissimilarities — 
Three  Generations — The  Progeny  of  the  Un- 
desirable Father. 

XVIII.    LOVE,  OR  SEX-AMALGAMATION 391 

How  Superior  Children  Are  Born — Who  Is 
and  Who  Is  Not  Married — Right  and  Wrong 
Sex-Amalgamation — The  Loss  of  Sjtamina  At- 
tributed to  Unnatural  Conditions — What  Prof. 
Wm.  A.  McKeever  Says  of  College  Students — 
The  Human  Race  Neglected — Changing  Coa- 


CONTENTS  9 

CHAPTMt  PAGE 

ditions  Change  Character — Parents  are  Crim- 
inally Negligent — A  Child  Well  Born  is 
Trained  at  Birth — A  Mother  is  the  Pre-natal 
Kindergarten  Teacher. 

XIX.     PSYCHIC  EVOLUTION,  OR   SOUL-LIFE  AND 

THOUGHT  FORCE 413 

Soul-Life — No  Soul-Life — Highly  Developed 
Soul-Life— The  Man  Who  Feels  All  is  Matter 
—We  May  Change  If  We  Will  It— We  Re- 
ceive as  Much  as  We  Believe — Material  Evi- 
dence Illustrates — Man  is  a  Conscious  and 
Creative  Being — Parents  Shape  the  Soul  of 
Their  Children — A  Union  of  Thought-forces 
are  Irresistible — The  Way  Out  Summed  Up. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

PROF.  JOHN  JAMES  HOLM 2 

REV.  MARION  EDWARD  CHURCH 19 

How  SCIENCE  AND  PREJUDICE  DIFFER  IN  THE  LIKENESS  OF 

NOAH  30 

THE  DAIBUTSU  AT  UENO,  JAPAN 36 

THE  DAIBUTSU  OF  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA 37 

A  FULL  BLOODED  AFRICAN 44 

THE  POOR  MORTAL , 53 

THE  LOWLY  IN  THE  BLACK  BELT  ON  SUNDAY  MORNING 60 

VARDAMAN'S  IDEAL  OF  JUSTICE : 65 

STRIPES  WITHOUT  STARS 72 

A  GROUP  OF  SMART  NEGROES,  BORN  DURING  SLAVERY 77 

PHILLIS  WHEATLEY  81 

MOSES  MEETS  PRINCESS  THARBIS , 84 

SCHOLARS  OF  A  BLACK  BELT  DISTRICT  SCHOOL 93 

A  STUDENT  IN  BROWN 96 

ANTI-NEGRO  PHILOSOPHER 122 

HE  VOMITS  POLITICAL  RACE  DOPE 130 

A  GROUP  OF  COLORED  CHILDREN  OF  THE  GENTLEMAN 143 

THE  OLD  BLACK  MAMMY 150 

A  SORT  OF  LEECH 152 

SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT , 162 

BURNING  AT  THE  STAKE 180 

CONVICT  CAMP  186 

THREE  PENCIL  STUDIES  IN  CRIME  BY  THE  AUTHOR 190 

THE  THREE  TEMPERAMENTS 201 

OLIVIA  D.  WASHINGTON 202 

PROF.  S.  G.  ATKINS 203 

DR.  JOSEPH  C.  PRICE 205 

TEMPERAMENTS  , 208 

BISHOP  B.  W.  ARNETT 211 

HON.  FREDERICK  DOUGLASS 214 

A  SCIENTIFIC  CHRIST 217 

RESULTS  WHEN  MENTAL  DISSIMILARITIES  CROSS 222 

11 


12  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

THE  LAW  OF  SPECIES  FORBIDS  MIXING 239 

GUILTY  YET  HAPPY 256 

FORBIDDEN  FRUIT '• 276 

WHEN  PAPA  is  AT  HOME 282 

CHILDREN  FROM  WHITE  FATHER  AND  BROWN  MOTHER 284 

A   SWEET,   DARK  BRIDE 288 

CHILDREN  BORN  TO  CAUCASIAN  MOTHERS  AND  NEGRO  FATHERS  297 
COLORED  CAUCASIAN  WOMAN  AND  HER  CHILDREN  BY  DARK 

HUSBAND  304 

PRETTY  COLORED  CAUCASIAN  WOMEN 312 

PRETTY  FRENCH  CREOLE  LADIES 316 

PRETTY  BROWN  AND  YELLOW  LADIES 322 

Two  COLORED  BEAUTIES  OF  THE  FAR  SOUTH 324 

SOCIAL  EQUALITY:  LOVE,  EVOLUTION  AND  PROGRESS 329 

FUTURE  LEADERS  OF  SOCIETY 340 

THREE  TYPES  OF  COLORED  WOMEN  IN  THE  FAR  SOUTH 349 

AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  WORLD 354 

J.  ROLAND,  PH.  D 359 

ROSALINE  361 

SAM  SLICK 363 

LITTLE  SAM  366 

SAM 368 

How  REFORMERS  Miss  THE  CENTER  OF  VICE 371 

MASTER  ROLAND  374 

IRALINE    375 

MRS.  DR.  SUMMER 380 

DR.  SUMMER 382 

BETSY   383 

SUMMERFIELD   384 

MASTER  SUMMER 335 

McNAY 380 

CLARA  McNAY 337 

MASTER  McNAY % 388 

THE  MOTHER  is  THE  PRE-NATAL  TEACHER  OF  HER  RACE 407 

BISHOP  R.  ALLEN 418 

A  Low  CLASS  EAST  AFRICAN  SAVAGE 419 

BISHOP  JAMES  VARICK .  420 


RESUME 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION  436 

THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  HAM ITIC  OR  NEGRO  RACE  IN  HISTORY, 
By  John  H.  White,  D.  D 438 

COLOR  PREJUDICE  IN  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE — CAUSES.  By  Dr. 
James  E.  Shepard 446 

AN  OPTIMISTIC  VIEW  OF  THE  NEGRO  QUESTION.  By  Prof. 
G.  E.  Davis,  Ph.  D 454 

INTERCOURSE  BETWEEN  THE  RACES.    By  Prof.  William  Pickens  470 

ECONOMIC  LAW  DEMANDS  FREEDOM  OF  MARRIAGE.  By  James 
E.  McGirt  , 483 

MISCEGENATION  AND  ITS  BANEFUL  EFFECTS.  By  Bishop  Alex- 
ander Walters,  A.  M.,  D.  D t 486 

THE  COLORED  WOMAN  AS  SHE  Is.    By  Anna  D.  Borden 489 

SOME  THOUGHTS  FOR  BOTH  RACES  TO  PONDER  OVER.  By 
Anna  D.  Borden 497 

A  COLOR  LINE  DIVIDES  Us.     Poem ^ 503 

THE  COLORED  WOMAN  ON  THE  PLANTATION,  AND  How  SHE 
is  RAISED  BY  PROGRESS  MADE.  By  Sophia  Cox  Johnson. . .  504 

ALL  HUMAN  BLOOD  is  ALIKE — INTERMARRIAGE.  By  Bishop  J. 
W.  Smith,  D.  D 511 

THE  AFRO-AMERICAN  AS  HE  WAS,  Now  Is  AND  WILL  BE. 
How  HE  Is  BLEACHING  AND  WILL  BECOME  SOCIALLY 
EQUAL.  By  Rev.  J.  W.  Wood,  D.  D .  519 


13 


RESUME 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

REV.  JOHN  H.  WHITE,  D.  D 438 

DR.  JAMES  E.  SHEPARD 447 

PROF.  GEORGE  E.  DAVIS,  PH.  D 455 

PROF.  WILLIAM  PICKENS  AND  WIFE 470 

CHILDREN  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  PICKENS .  v '. 473 

JAMES  E.  McGiRT 484 

BISHOP   ALEXANDER  WALTERS,  A.  M.,  D.  D -. .  486 

ANNA  D.  BORDEN 489 

A  COLOR  LINE  DIVIDES  Us 503 

SOPHIA  Cox  JOHNSON 507 

BISHOP  J.  W.  SMITH,  D.  D 512 

REV.  J.  W.  WOOD,  D.  D. .  .520 


14 


PREFACE 


I  propose  to  treat  the  race  problem  in  America 
from  a  scientific  viewpoint  never  before  attempt- 
ed. In  addressing  my  readers  I  shall  use  the 
plural  number,  because  I  feel  that  it  is  not  "I" 
but  "We,"  who  are  writing  this  book.  I  feel 
the  spiritual  assistance  of  Garrison,  Phillips, 
Douglass  and  others,  to  strengthen,  encourage 
and  embolden  me  to  tell,  without  fear  or  favor, 
the  unvarnished  truth. 

If  my  reader  believes  that  this  book  is  written 
in  defense  of  the  Negro  he  is,  indeed,  mistaken. 
I,  as  a  scientist,  write  in  defense  of  justice.  That 
means  that  I  condemn  those  elements  in  human 
society  which  tend  to  pull  apart,  tear  down  and 
destroy,  and  defend  those  elements  which  build 
up,  unite  and  harmonize.  This  book  is  not  in- 
tended to  be. used  in  a  praise  service,  nor  yet  in 
an  indignation  meeting,  but  in  the  spacious 
"Hall  of  Reason  and  Justice." 

A  scientist  may  predict  an  earthquake,  not 
because  he  believes  in  one  or  enjoys  one,  but  be- 
cause the  indications  of  one  are  apparent  to  him. 
This  is  the  position  I  occupy.  There  are  certain 
unalterable  natural  laws  that  man  must  obey, 
though  he  squirm,  sputter  and  protest  under  the 
focused  heat  of  compulsion,  he  is  forced  to  sub- 
mit to  the  inevitable  in  the  end.  This,  both  races 

15 


16  PREFACE 

(the  colored  and  white)  must  ultimately  do  in 
America. 

We  propose  to  take  the  noose  from  the  neck  of 
Miss  Justice  and  let  her  cut  and  slash  with  her 
flaming  sword,  Mr.  Wrong,  who  sits  upon  the 
throne  and  tramples  under  foot  the  helpless,  just 
because  he  is  popular.  I  hope  that  we  may  in- 
duce our  readers  to  look  Justice  squarely  in  the 
eye  and  stand  back  and  reason  together  upon  the 
greatest  problem  which  confronts  the  American 
people,  viz.,  legal  amalgamation  and  social 
justice  between  the  races.  This  book  may  be 
received  with  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth  by 
the  wrong-doers  in  the  pit  of  human  depravity, 
who  flaunt  in  the  face  of  justice  the  red  rag  of 
anarchy  and  crime  without  a  blush  of  shame; 
but  to  the  justice-loving  citizen,  white  and  col- 
ored, we  believe  it  will  at  least  prove  a  prophecy, 
or,  perchance,  a  beacon  light  that  will  show  the 
way  to  that  day  when  all  men,  white,  black, 
brown,  red  and  yellow  will  join  hands  in  unison 
on  a  common  level,  for  the  betterment  of  all 
mankind. 

I  wish  to  state  positively  here  that  I  have  no 
message  for  the  unfortunately  developed  souls 
who  are  only  able  to  see  things  through  the 
stained  glass  of  prejudice  and  lewdness,  and  are 
consequently  not  able  to  discern  right  from 
wrong. 


PREFACE  17 

It  has  been  necessary  for  me  to  assume  the 
attitude  of  a  surgeon  in  the  examination  of  a 
ghastly,  putrifying  cancer  that  must  be  treated 
with  scientific  certainty,  and  be  laid  bare  to  the 
light  of  day  from  which  it  was  so  long  hid, 
though  of  its  existence  all  were  aware;  and 
which  has  been  regarded  by  the  Church  and 
State  in  a  cool,  philosophical  manner — a  neces- 
sary evil.  If  I  made  any  attempt  to  please  my 
readers  I  should  fall  far  short  of  what  I  wish  to 
say,  and  what  I  believe  a  large  number  of  serious- 
minded  people  of  both  races  want  to  know,  and 
ought  to  know  on  the  questions  discussed  herein. 

There  will  no  doubt  be  objections  raised  by 
the  over-wrought,  self-righteous  personalities,  in 
regard  to  the  influence,  of  a  questionable  kind, 
this  book  may  exercise  over  the  young  people  of 
both  races.  This  is  no  Sunday  school  book  for 
little  children.  Those  of  mature  years  will  find 
in  it  instructions  and  advice  of  vital  importance 
to  themselves,  their  posterity,  and  the  entire 
human  family.  It  is  my  aim  to  place  this  book 
in  the  hands  of  all  intelligent  young  people  of 
both  races,  as  far  as  possible,  for  nothing  will 
quicker  eradicate  color  lines  and  race  prejudice 
than  to  show,  in  unmistakable  language,  to  all 
young  Americans  that  the  future  greatness  of 
this  country  depends  upon  the  peaceful  assimi- 
lation of  all  its  people;  and  that  it  is  only  the 
i 


18  PREFACE 

silly  and  ignorant,  the  savage  and  barbarian, 
who  exalts  himself  and  debases  his  neighbor  of 
another  color. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  also  desire  to  show  our 
young  Americans  that  the  variety  of  races  in  our 
country  means  future  greatness  and  unlimited 
possibilities;  and  that  when  these  races  are  judi- 
ciously crossed,  scientifically  mated,  a  new  man 
will  in  time  result,  with  marvelous  intellectual 
and  physical  powers  such  as  the  world  has 
never  known.  I  wish  to  show  them  that  the  best 
and  bluest  blood  in  the  South  has  crossed  with 
the  Negro  race  ever  since  the  earliest  days  of 
slavery,  and  inculcate  a  moral  sense  of  this  kin- 
ship. I,  furthermore,  wish  to  show  them  that 
illicit  mixing  is  condemned  by  the  civilized 
world  and  the  laws  of  Nature;  but  that  the 
legitimate  union  of  two  souls  of  marked  dis- 
similarities, when  perfectly  harmonized,  will 
produce  a  posterity  superior  to  all  others,  and 
that  it  is  not  a  shame  but  an  honor  to  uphold  and 
defend,  in  true  wedlock,  the  affinity  of  their  soul, 
whether  that  affinity  be  black,  brown,  red,  yellow 
or  white.  I  shall  give  ample  scientific  proof  that 
racial  admixture  is  inevitable,  that  intermarriage 
prohibition  is  an  outrage  to  human  justice,  con- 
trary to  a  fixed  law  of  Nature,  demoralizing  to 
both  races  .and  the  crowning  curse  of  our  boasted 
civilization.  THE  AUTHOR. 


FROM  hours  already 
crowded  with  a  mul- 
tiplicity   of    my    public 
duties,   I   snatch   a   few 
minutes  to  write  a  short 

introduction  to  this  great  book,  and  its  true  im- 
port, by  Prof.  John  James  Holm. 

The  name  of  Prof.  Holm  is  in  itself  a  guaran- 
tee of  its  soundness  of  logic,  and  the  excellence 
of  the  presentation  of  this  production  of  his 
richly  endowed  and  highly  cultured  mind. 

In  this  book  the  author  discusses  a  subject  that 
has  been  a  stubborn  controversy  for  centuries. 
To  one  that  might  at  a  glance  of  the  subject 
turn  away  from  the  book  without  carefully  and 
diligently  reading  the  able,  convincing  argu- 
ments it  contains;  let  me  say,  he  will  miss  an 
opportunity  of  improving  heart  and  mmdr 
which,  when  he  comes  to  realize  it  fully,  will 
be  to  him  a  cause  for  many  regrets. 

19 


20  INTRODUCTION 

This  great  book  is  not  a  rehash  of  old  argu- 
ments. The  learned  author,  by  careful,  laborious 
research,  brings  to  us  arguments  of  originality 
and  freshness.  The  arguments  put  forth  are  not 
only  interesting  and  eloquent,  but  to  any  fair- 
minded  man  convincing.  It  seems  to  me  it 
exhibits  not  only  a  thorough  familiarity  with 
the  facts  and  doctrines  of  the  Divine  Writings, 
but  a  remarkable  insight  into  their  true  import, 
which  seems  to  have  been  born  of  his  reliance 
on  God  for  the  presence  of  the  Kfoly  Spirit  to 
shed  light  upon  his  work. 

I  rejoice  that  in  rapidly  increasing  numbers 
we  are  already  beginning  to  see  more  clearly 
some  of  the  fallacies  so  detrimental  to  our  prog- 
ress. The  numerous  and  practical  illustrations 
with  which  the  author  has  interspersed  his  book 
will  have  a  peculiar  attraction  for  all  interested 
in  this  progress,  which  the  races  of  America  so 
sadly  need. 

In  my  long  and  varied  experience  as  a  minister 
of  the  great  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church,  I  have  found  that  for  every  great  occa- 
sion of  local  or  national  magnitude  in  the  up- 
building of  my  race  a  man  or  a  woman  of  strong 
convictions  and  firm  faith  has  stepped  out  boldly 
to  proclaim  the  truth  at  any  cost.  Sometimes  it 
has  been  one  of  our  race,  sometimes  of  the  white 
race.  In  this  case  it  is  again  a  white  man  of  the 


INTRODUCTION  21 

old  Teutonic  race  who  has  dedicated  his  broad 
experience  and  remarkable  scientific  intellect  to 
the  advocacy  of  a  cause  that  concerns  the  vital 
interests  of  both  races  in  America. 
LNothing  is  as  strange  as  the  unpolished  truth. 
When  I  had  the  distinguished  honor  to  peep 
into  the  manuscript  of  this  book,  my  eyes  were 
opened  and  the  scales  fell,  and  I  saw  the  real 
condition  of  my  people  in  the  South.  I  was 
convicted  and  convinced  that  we  all  have  been 
laboring  under  a  bugbear  and  dared  not  stand 
erect;  but  as  an  old  adage  says:  "The  truth 
crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again."  We  can  no 
longer  hide  our  faces  after  a  careful  reading  of 
this  book  and  plead  ignorancej 

There  is  perhaps  no  man  in  either  race  better 
equipped  to  handle  the  subject  of  this  book  than 
Prof.  Holm.  When  but  a  boy  he  manifested  a 
great  interest  in  psychological  science.  He  was 
an  early  student  of  Prof.  O.  S.  Fowler,  and  has 
ever  since  been  a  close  student  of  human  nature, 
making  extensive  investigations  relative  to  the 
races  in  the  South  and  elsewhere,  covering  many 
years.  A  man  with  such  a  natural-born  gift,  who 
has  spared  neither  time  or  money  to  obtain  the 
truth  as  he  presents  it,  must  be  heard.  No  one 
can  read  this  book  without  feeling  that  the  heart 
of  the  author  is  wrapped  up  in  its  every  page. 
He  has  been  a  believer  in  Universal  Brotherhood 


22  INTRODUCTION 

since  early  manhood — that  every  man  is  his 
brother  and  every  woman  his  sister,  regardless 
of  color  or  condition  in  life.  I  have  often  heard 
him  say  that  he  cannot  feel  a  social  difference 
between  the  respectable  colored  man  and  woman 
and  a  white  man  or  woman  who  is  respectable. 
His  position  or  belief  is  perhaps  most  fully  ex- 
pressed in  the  closing  words  of  a  memorial 
address,  delivered  in  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church 
at  Citronelle,  Alabama,  in  behalf  of  the  Rt.  Rev. 
M.  R.  Franklin,  D.  D.,  who  died  last  May 
(1909). 

"Live  for  those  who  love  you, 
And  for  your  enemies  too, 
And  life  will  prove  a  true  success, 
In  the  good  that  you  may  do." 

Prof.  Holm  was  reared  in  the  great  state  of 
Wisconsin;  he  did  not  see  the  face  of  a  Negro 
until  grown;  and  when  it  was  his  privilege  to 
associate  with  colored  people,  he  did  not  see 
through  the  stained  vision  of  race  prejudice,  but 
as  a  student  of  human  nature  the  Negro  proved 
very  attractive  material  to  him,  and  he  dis- 
covered the  latent  possibilities  of  the  race  and 
became  the  friend  of  our  downtrodden  people. 
Years  later,  after  gaining  considerable  knowl- 
edge from  books,  teachers,  and  by  experience,  it 
was  under  the  guidance  of  an  all-wise  and  grac- 
ious Providence  that  he  traveled  South  and  lived 


INTRODUCTION  83 

near  the  colored  people  of  all  classes.  After 
spending  more  than  twenty-six  years  of  his  life 
and  money  in  study  and  research  he  comes  for- 
ward with  this  book  that  will  be  instrumental, 
more  than  any  other  thing  at  the  present  time,  in 
solving  the  race  problem. 

Yours  for  the  cause, 

MARION  EDWARD  CHURCH,  A.  B. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  BLOOD  OF  HAM  AND  JAPHETH 
INTRODUCTORY 

OUR  POSITION.— In  the  following  chap- 
ters we  will  endeavor  to  present  to  the  reader  in 
our  homely,  practical  manner,  some  of  the  real 
and  imaginary  difficulties  existing  between  the 
white  and  colored  branch  of  the  human  family 
in  America.  We  do  not  aim  to  escape  the  eye 
of  the  critic  of  this  mixed  family.  We  think 
and  reason  independent  of  and  regardless  of 
criticism  and  prejudice,  and  present  the  truth 
as  we  have  found  it,  plain  enough  and  practical 
enough  to  be  understood  by  our  readers. 

While  we  unhesitatingly  condemn  the  prev- 
alent wrongs,  we  do  not  try  to  minimize  or 
obscure  the  grievances  of  the  white  people,  and 
especially  magnify  the  grievances  of  the  black 
man,  or  the  colored  offspring  of  the  white  man. 
We  wish  our  readers  to  bear  in  mind,  in  reading 
this  book,  that  all  the  wrongs  which  the  Cau- 
casian has  done  the  Negro  would  have  been 
reversed,  if  that  race  had  been  on  top  and  the 
white  man  underneath. 

25 


26  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ANCIENT  HISTORY  records  the  fact  that 
when  the  dark-skinned  people  were  on  top,  that 
is,  the  most  enlightened  and  civilized,  they 
treated  inferior  races,  or  rather  those  less  power- 
ful, with  as  much  and  even  more  cruelty  than 
the  Negro  has  ever  suffered  under  the  domina- 
tion of  his  white  brother.  The  cruelties  which 
the  coffee-skinned  Egyptian  perpetrated  toward 
the  inoffensive  Hebrews,  is  but  one  striking  ex- 
ample of  what  other  races  suffered,  in  ancient 
times,  as  subjects  and  slaves  of  the  dark-skinned 
or  black  races,  when  they  ruled  the  world.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  cruelties  the  Ethiopian  has 
from  time  to  time  practiced  on  his  own  race  un- 
doubtedly exceeds  all  wrongs  he  has  ever  en- 
dured at  the  hands  of  other  peoples. 

Slavery  existed  among  the  kinky-haired  peo- 
ple from  the  earliest  history;  in  fact,  slavery 
originated  with  the  Ethiopian  or  so-called 
Hamitic  branch  of  the  human  family.  The 
dark  people  were  the  first  who  attained  any 
degree  of  civilization,  and  through  warfare 
came  in  possession  of  inferior  tribes  of  various 
kinds,  whom  they  enslaved.  The  pink-skinned 
man  was  undoubtedly  among  these,  to  serve  his 
apprenticeship  in  the  arts  of  civilization  as  a 
slave.  ) 

We  have  not  the  least  doubt  but  that  the  first 
prehistoric  race  of  man  was  black  complexioned. 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  27 

Ridpath  shows  in  his  history  of  the  world,  on 
Race  Chart  No.  i  (showing  the  distribution  of 
mankind  on  the  hypothesis  of  a  common  origin) 
that  the  original  stock  was  black,  from  which 
sprang  the  prehistoric  brown  or  Mongoloid, 
from  which  sprang  the  prehistoric  ruddy  or 
white. 

NOAH  AND  THE  FLOOD.— We  have  no 
reasons  to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  the  Jewish 
Bible,  which  records  the  flood  and  the  history 
of  Noah  and  his  sons.  Science  has  never  suc- 
cessfully proven  to  the  contrary,  but  often  affirms 
the  fact  that  there  was  a  universal  inundation 
at  some  prehistoric  period;  and,  if  there  was,  it 
is  just  as  reasonable  to  believe  that  there  was  a 
Noah  to  battle  the  floods  and  preserve  our  spe- 
cies. And  if  there  was  a  Noah,  it  is  a  scientific 
certainty  that  his  skin  was  black.  No  white- 
skinned  people  could  exist  in  the  prehistoric 
climate  of  Noah's  time.  Prior  to  the  flood  the 
earth  was  enveloped  in  a  sheath  of  vapor,  render- 
ing the  atmosphere  very  humid  and  hot.  To 
make  ourselves  understood  by  our  readers  we 
will  take  an  egg  as  an  illustration:  The  yolk 
represents  the  earth;  the  white,  the  atmosphere, 
and  the  shell,  the  sheath  of  water  that  surrounded 
the  earth  in  prehistoric  times,  or,  more  correctly, 
before  the  flood.  The  flood  was  simply  the 
breaking  up  of  the  envelopment  of  this  sheath  of 


28  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

water  which  surrounded  the  earth,  and  the 
settling  of  it  upon  the  same,  much  as  we  see  it 
at  the  present  time.  We  have  no  space  to  devote 
to  the  exposition  of  this  theory  in  this  book. 
Others  have  devoted  much  time  and  study  to  this 
subject.  We  believe  that  the  sudden  change  in 
animal  life  and  vegetation,  and  also  in  climate 
upon  the  earth,  as  geology  reveals,  is  one  of  the 
strongest  proofs  as  to  the  correctness  of  this 
theory  of  the  flood.  The  antediluvians  were 
aware  of  the  existence  of  this  water  envelopment 
of  the  earth,  so  also  was  the  writer  of  Genesis. 
He  speaks  of  it  in  the  following  manner:  "And 
God  said,  Let  there  be  a  firmament  in  the  midst 
of  the  waters,  and  let  it  divide  the  waters  from 
the  waters.  And  God  made  the  firmament,  and 
divided  the  waters  which  were  under  the  firma- 
ment from  the  waters  which  were  above  the 
firmament;  and  it  was  so.  And  God  called  the 
firmament  heaven."  Then  the  writer  speaks  of 
the  water  and  land  division  of  the  earth  as  fol- 
lows: "And  God  said,  Let  the  waters  under  the 
heavens  be  gathered  together  unto  one  place, 
and  let  the  dry  land  appear :  and  it  was  so.  And 
God  called  the  dry  land  Earth;  and  the  gather- 
ing together  of  the  waters  called  he  Seas."  The 
condition  of  the  atmosphere,  the  writer  describes 
in  the  following  language:  "But  (there  being  no 
rain  in  that  early  day)  there  went  up  a  mist  from 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  29 

the  earth,  and  watered  the  whole  face  of  the 
ground."  We  can  easily  imagine  the  humidity 
of  the  atmosphere,  with  a  mist  sufficiently  heavy 
to  water  a  luxuriant  tropical  growth.  During 
the  antediluvian  period  there  was  no  place  on 
earth  where  irrigation  was  necessary. 

Out  of  this  kind  of  environment  Noah  and  his 
sons  emerged  when  the  clouds  cleared  away  and 
the  bright  sun  shone  for  the  first  time  in  a  clear, 
crisp  heaven.  Prior  to  this  time  the  sun  had  been 
hid  by  the  sheath  which  enveloped  the  earth, 
causing  a  subdued  brightness.  Now  it  would 
burst  forth  in  all  its  glory  in  the  morning,  and 
shine  throughout  the  day.  The  writer  says: 
"While  the  earth  remaineth,  seedtime  and  har- 
vest, and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and  winter, 
and  day  and  night  shall  not  cease." 

The  strongest  Biblical  evidence  we  have  that 
there  was  "Water  above  the  firmament,"  is  the 
appearance  of  the  rainbow  in  the  cloud  after 
the  deluge.  The  writer  of  Genesis  was  no  doubt 
familiar  with  the  natural  cause  of  the  rainbow. 

Without  the  rays  of  the  sun  reflecting  against 
a  rain  cloud  there  could  be  no  rainbow.  While 
the  earth  was  surrounded  with  a  shell  of  water 
above  the  atmosphere,  a  "bow  in  the  cloud"  was 
an  impossibility,  because  there  was  no  sun  that 
shone  clearly  and  no  cloud  to  reflect  it.  When 
the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened  the  water 


30  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


HOW  SCIENCE  AND  PREJUDICE  DIFFER  IN  THE  LIKENESS  OF  NOAH. 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  31 

fell  and  the  rainbow  in  the  cloud  appeared  as  a 
covenant  that  "All  flesh  be  cut  off  any  more  by 
the  waters  of  a  flood;  neither  shall  there  any 
more  be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth."  The 
sudden  breaking  away  of  the  water  crust  which 
surrounded  the  entire  earth  between  four  and 
five  miles  from  its  surface,  caused  a  universal 
inundation.  This  leaves  no  ground  for  the  argu- 
ment often  put  forth  that  all  mankind  was  not 
destroyed  by  the  flood,  but  that  some  escaped  on 
dry  land,  among  them  a  sort  of  half  man  and 
half  monkey,  which  has  since  evolved  into  what 
is  today  known  as  the  "inferior  race." 

All  races  of  people  in  the  world  today  have 
their  common  origin  in  Noah  and  his  offspring. 
No  matter  how  man  may  have  originated  during 
the  antediluvian  period,  there  is  not  a  scrap  of 
evidence  in  either  history,  science  or  theology, 
that  any  escaped  the  deluge  save  a  few  of  the 
most  intelligent,  under  the  guiding  hand  of  a 
creative  and  preserving  power. 

VARIETY  AND  UNION.— A  variety  is 
divine,  in  union  there  is  strength.  Some  day, 
not  far  distant,  mankind  will  realize  this  tre- 
mendous fact.  We  want  our  readers  to  realize 
this  now.  This  book  is  not  written  to  arouse 
race  antagonism  or  hatred,  but  to  alleviate  ex- 
isting difficulties,  harmonize  as  far  as  possible 
the  opposing  forces,  and  bring  about  a  mutual 


32  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

understanding  between  a  people  who  are  today 
tied  by  many  inseparable  ties  that  must  finally, 
triumphantly,  end  in  harmony  and  permanent 
union. 

We  hope  to  present  overwhelming  facts  that 
will  prove  the  truth  of  the  above  statement.  We 
wish  to  prove  to  every  reader — and  let  this  book 
go  on  record — that  race  integrity  in  this  great, 
free  America  is  a  myth ;  that  it  has  been  a  myth 
in  every  age  of  human  experience,  and  that  the 
few  advocates  of  it  today,  in  both  races  in  this 
country,  are  opposing  a  natural  law  of  evolution 
and  human  growth  that  no  amount  of  racial 
hatred  or  prejudice  can  render  inoperative. 

THE  THREE  DIVISIONS  OF  THE 
RACES. — Asia  was  undoubtedly  the  birthplace 
of  mankind.  It  is  believed  that  at  a  time  far 
back  of  history  there  lived  a  people  in  Bactra 
that  had  considerable  advancement  in  the  arts 
of  civilization.  These  people  called  themselves 
Aryas  or  Aryans,  signifying  to  walk  upright  or 
straight.  While  Asia  was  the  birthplace  of  man, 
Africa  was  the  cradle  of  advanced  civilization. 

The  Aryan  branch  (Japhetic),  to  which  all 
white-skinned  people  belong,  has,  since  early 
history,  been  the  competitive  and  aggressive  one. 
The  fittest  among  them  have  survived  the  cli- 
matic and  combative  conditions,  under  which 
they  existed  for  so  many  ages,  developing  a  strong 
race  of  people. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  33 

The  Semitic  branch  has  contributed  to  man- 
kind the  three  great  religions  of  the  world — the 
Jewish,  Christian  and  Mohammedan — teaching 
the  worship  of  one  God.  It  has  also  given  us  the 
moral  law.  C.  Osborn  Ward  says  in  his  book, 
"The  Ancient  Lowly"  (1893)  : 

"The  law  of  Moses  had  partly  abolished  slav- 
ery among  the  Hebrews  as  early  as  B.  C.  1400, 
probably  on  account  of  the  contempt  for  that  deg- 
radation which  the  Hebrews  felt,  after  the  de- 
liverance from  their  protracted  slavery  in  Egypt 
It  appears  that  the  Hebrews  were  the  chief 
originators  and  conservators  of  what  is  now 
known  and  advocated  in  the  name  socialism; 
and  their  weird  life,  peculiar  language,  laws, 
struggles  and  inextinguishable  nationality  scintil- 
lates through  many  of  the  obscurities  of  history 
in  a  manner  to  command  the  wonder,  if  not  the 
awe,  of  all  lovers  of  democratic  society." 

The  Hamitic  branch,  to  which  all  the  brown 
and  black  races  belong,  has  been  the  great 
builder  and  the  earliest  cultivator  of  the  soil  on 
an  extensive  scale.  It  has  been  remarkable  for 
its  massive  architecture,  which  yet  covers  the 
tracks  of  these  people,  after  thousands  of  years, 
the  marvel  of  the  modern  world.  The  building 
proclivity  of  these  people  has  only  been  feebly 
imitated  by  succeeding  ages.  When  modern 
"skyscrapers"  have  crumbled  to  dust  the  great 


34  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

pyramids  and  ruins  of  the  ancient  Ethiopian  will 
yet  be  in  evidence.*  When  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  was  in  darkness,  this  branch  of  mankind 
lived  in  cities  and  was  skilled  in  the  art  of  work- 
ing in  wood,  metal  and  clay.  It  discovered  the 
manufacture  of  malleable  glass  and  the  embalm- 
ing of  bodies,  which  today  belong  to  the  lost  arts. 

THE  KINKY-HAIRED  HAMITE.— The 
kinky-haired  branch  of  the  Hamitic  race  origin- 
ally occupied  but  a  small  area  in  west  Africa,  to 
which  the  parents  of  these  people  undoubtedly 
migrated  from  the  seat  of  the  earliest  Ethiopian 
civilization.  We  have  reasons  to  believe  that 
this  kinky-haired  branch  scarcely  existed  on  the 
west  coast  of  Africa  at  the  time  Moses  led  the 
Egyptian  army  into  Ethiopia.  (See  history  of 
Josephus.) 

The  white  race  has  perhaps  never  given  full 
credit  to  the  colored  branch  of  the  human  family 
for  the  complete  sway  it  had  in  the  world  in 
prehistoric  times  as  well  as  in  the  earliest  record- 
ed history.  Fresh  proof  that  the  ancient  Ethi- 
opians were  a  people  of  high  culture  and  marked 
intellectual  advancement  is  furnished  by  Prof. 
David  Randall  Maclver  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  who  has  gathered  a  collection  of 
antiquities  from  Nubia  of  much  variety  and 


*See  "The  Footprints  of  the  Hamitic  or  Negro  Race  in 
History,"  in  the  resume  of  this  book,  by  Rev.  John  H.  White, 
D.  D. 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  35 

artistic  worth,  aggregating  five  tons  in  weight. 
The  articles  he  has  gathered,  Prof.  Maclver  says, 
represent  early  Negro  civilization  that  lasted  for 
at  least  seven  centuries.  Including  among  the 
antiquities  are  various  works  of  art  and  also  some 
Ethiopic  inscriptions.  Prof.  Maclver  adds: 
"Our  excavations  have  shown  that  the  source 
of  civilization  of  the  period  \vhich  our  work  in 
lower  Nubia  covered  was  Ethiopian.  All  the 
Negro  works  of  art  were  discovered  in  an  ex- 
tensive cemetery  lying  about  ten  feet  under 
ground  between  Wady  Haifa  and  Assouan  in 
lower  Nubia." 

WAS  BUDDHA  A  KINKY-HAIRED 
NEGRO? — Buddha,  one  of  the  greatest  moral 
and  religious  reformers  the  world  has  ever 
known  was,  for  instance,  at  least  as  much  a  so- 
called  Negro  as  Frederick  Douglass  or  Booker 
T.  Washington.  In  the  old  statues  extant  he  re- 
sembles often,  in  feature  as  well  as  in  the  curl  of 
his  hair,  a  Negro.  More  than  three  million  Bud- 
dhists in  Asia  worship  at  the  shrine  of  a  Buddha 
who  has  Negro  features  as  well  as  the  crisped 
hair.  And  there  are  two  other  statues  of  Buddha, 
one  in  Calanse  and  one  at  Ceylon,  which  have 
the  kinky  hair  and  long,  pendant  earrings.  The 
Daibutsu,  or  great  Buddha  at  Ueno,  Japan,  is  a 
monstrous  image  to  which  the  people  of  Tokyo 
resort  to  worship,  and  pay  tribute  for  the  remis- 


36  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

sion  of  their  sins.    We  give  a  pen  drawing  of 
the  Daibutsu. 

Compare  the  Daibutsu  with  the  physiognomy 
of  the  yellow,  red  or  white  race,  and  you  fail  to 


THE  DAIBUTSU  AT  UENO,  JAPAN. 

There  is  a  striking  resemblance  between  this  ancient  statue 
and  many  leading  men  of  the  Afro-American  race  that  no 
physiognomist  can  overlook.  There  is  the  same  high  forehead, 
the  same  eloquent  eye,  the  same  powerful  nose,  the  same  firm, 
passionate  mouth,  the  same  decisive  chin  and  the  same  stubborn 
jaw  we  often  meet  in  a  leader  of  his  race. 


OR   THE  FADING  LEONARD'S   SPOTS  37 

find  any  resemblance;  but  a  cross  between  the 
Negro  and  Caucasian  would  produce  features 
and  talents  like  this  Buddha  possessed. 


THE  DAIBUTSU  OP  INDUSTRIAL  EDUCATION 
AT  TUSKEGEE.  ALABAMA. 

THE  NEGRO.— The  statement  that  the 
Negro  or  Ethiopian  race  is  a  young  race,  is,  as 
already  intimated,  not  really  true.  It  is  true 
that  it  is  young  in  its  present  undeveloped  state, 


38  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

but  this  youth  is  its  second  childhood.  The 
brown  race  and  its  prototype  are  the  oldest  in 
the  world.  And  in  passing  we  wish  to  say  that 
we  believe  that  there  was  a  time  when  curly  hair 
and  a  coffee-brown  skin  was  considered  a  stamp 
of  royalty  among  a  people  representing  the  high- 
est culture  and  civilization  of  the  world.  This 
stamp  of  royalty  was  universally  recognized  and 
emulated,  so  much  so  that  it  is  to  this  day  imi- 
tated by  many  straight-haired  people  in  the  arti- 
ficial curling  of  the  hair. 

The  Ethiopian  and  other  branches  of  the  same 
family  spread  their  civilization  and  culture  into 
every  part  of  the  known  world.  They  conquered 
the  then  existing  wild  tribes  in  various  places, 
and  amalgamated  and  assimilated  them.  Out  of 
these  amalgamations  other  great  races  in  time 
sprang  up,  and  in  turn  they  conquered  their  an- 
cient conquerers ;  but  finally  a  remarkably  strong, 
pink-skinned  race  made  its  appearance  upon  the 
world's  arena;  and  while  it  was  rapidly  tainted 
with  Ethiopian  blood,  it  maintained  its  own,  and 
adopted  and  absorbed  all  the  glory  and  civiliza- 
tion of  this  wonderful  dark-skinned  people,  who 
then  slowly  passed  out  of  the  foremost  ranks  of 
progress. 

While  a  remnant  of  this  people  was  in  the 
lowest  depths  of  savagery  in  the  steaming,  blister- 
ing jungles  of  equatorial  Africa,  thousands  of 


OR   THE  FADING  LEONARD'S   SPOTS  39 

years  later,  slavery  was  introduced  on  the  west- 
ern continent,  and  thousands  of  these  poor,  retro- 
grated  beings  were  brought  here  and  to  other 
parts  of  the  civilized  world,  to  again  toil  and 
spin  like  their  ancient  forefathers,  but  this  time 
not  for  themselves  alone,  but  for  the  white- 
skinned  people  whom  they  once  knew  and 
despised  as  pale-faced  savages. 

HE  AGAIN  ATTAINS  CIVILIZATION. 
— It  is  gratifying  to  note  that  the  savage  remnant 
of  a  once  advanced  people  are  again  entering 
the  ranks  of  civilization.  Even  in  Abyssinia, 
that  obscure  ancient  Ethiopian  country,  all  male 
children  over  twelve  years  of  age  are  now  under 
a  compulsory  educational  law,  the  state  provid- 
ing the  education  and  building  many  schools. 

The  dark  races  are  advancing  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Mr.  Frank  Carpenter,  the  noted  trav- 
eler and  correspondent,  has  given  an  encourag- 
ing report  of  the  work  Gorden  college  is  doing 
for  the  natives  in  the  Soudan,  reaching  every 
class  from  the  Negro  savage  up  to  the  more  culti- 
vated Arabian. 

The  law  of  dissemination  has  again,  for  several 
centuries  past,  operated  in  favor  of  these  people, 
in  that  it  has  not  only  distributed  thousands  of 
them  in  every  country,  but  also  in  crossing  them 
freely  with  every  race  with  whom  they  have 
come  in  contact.  This  fact  is  fullv  illustrated 


4%  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

in  the  millions  of  mixed  blood  in  the  United 
States.  And  in  Africa  it  is  scarcely  less  true. 
The  blood  of  the  white  and  other  races  is  flowing 
in  the  veins  of  thousands  on  that  continent.  It 
has  penetrated  to  its  very  center.  Many  Negroes 
brought  to  America  were  of  mixed  stock.  We 
find  many  with  long,  wavy  black  hair,  whose 
skin  is  decidedly  black.  And  as  railroads  and 
civilization  conquer  the  trackless  forest  and  im- 
penetrable jungle,  the  mixing  process  will  be- 
come more  and  more  apparent  on  the  dark  conti- 
nent. The  day  will  again  come  when,  not  only 
on  this  continent  but  in  Africa,  a  sunburnt  or 
tan-skinned,  curly-haired  race  will  demand  and 
receive  recognition. 

MR.  ROOSEVELT  SAYS  THERE  WILL 
BE  A  WHITE  AFRICA.  — Ex-President 
Roosevelt  spoke  at  a  luncheon  given  in  his  honor 
at  the  African  Inland  Mission,  an  American 
'institution  at  Kijabe,  British  East  Africa,  while 
on  his  hunting  tour.  He  said:  "I  believe  with 
all  my  heart  that  a  large  part  of  East  Africa  will 
form  the  'white  man's  country.'  Make  every 
effort  to  build  up  a  prosperous  and  numerous 
population. 

"I  ask  the  settlers  to  co-operate  with  the  mis- 
sionaries and  treat  the  native  justly  and  bring 
him  to  a  higher  level." 

The  Southern  Statesman  (white)  says:  "  'The 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  41 

white  man's  country'  is  an  expression  which  indi- 
cates that  it  is  the  established  policy  of  the  white 
settlers  to  eventually  drive  the  natives  out  of  the 
most  desirable  portion  of  their  own  continent 
and  confine  them  to  the  portions  in  which  white 
men  cannot  thrive.  A  white  Africa  and  a  black 
Africa  are  to  settle  the  matter  in  the  dark  conti- 
nent." 

Now,  we  believe  that  the  native  will  no  more 
be  driven  out  of  Africa,  or  that  portion  of  the 
country  best  suited  to  the  white  man,  than  he  is 
driven  out  of  the  United  States.  The  Indian  has 
been  driven  out  of  his  country  by  the  white  man ; 
every  other  race  of  men  may  be  driven  out  by 
the  white  man,  when  he  so  determines ;  but  we 
can  find  no  instance  in  history  where  the  Negro 
and  Caucasian  settled  together  in  large  numbers, 
where  they  ever  again  succeeded  in  separating. 
These  two  races  seem  to  be  better  adapted  to  live 
together  than  any  two  extremely  opposite  races. 

Mark  what  we  say,  when  the  white  man  set- 
tles extensively  in  Africa  and  occupies  every  de- 
sirable portion  of  it,  so  will  also  his  colored  off- 
spring and  the  native  full-blood  occupy  the  same 
ground.  The  result  will  be  amalgamation  there 
as  here  in  the  United  States.  There  will  be  a 
colored  Caucasian  race  in  Africa. 

Whether  this  will  ever  be  called  the  colored 
Caucasian  race  in  America,  we  will  not  venture 
to  predict  here,  but  it  is  its  proper  name. 


42  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

HE  HELPED  TO  ENSLAVE  HIMSELF. 
— It  is  well  known  and  recorded  in  slave  history 
that  this  black,  kinky-haired  man  was  originally 
one  of  the  causes  of  the  wide  distribution  of  him- 
self. During  the  flowery  days  of  the  slave  traffic 
Negroland  was  so  completely  demoralized  that 
it  was  appalling  to  behold,  even  to  the  hardened 
slave  dealers  of  that  dark  day.  Every  tribe, 
every  clan  was  against  its  neighbor,  and  on  the 
outlook  to  entrap  and  sell  to  the  slave  buyer  the 
men,  women  and  children  thus  taken  by  violence. 
Whole  villages  and  towns  were  often  taken,  the 
men  who  resisted  were  slain  in  cold  blood,  and 
the  women  and  children  sold  into  bondage. 
In  many  instances  these  black  fiends  did  not 
even  spare  their  own  children,  but  sold  them 
with  the  rest  of  the  stock  in  hand.  The  Moham- 
medans also  paid  especial  attention  to  this  traf- 
fic in  later  years. 

We  find  that  the  Negro,  instead  of  persist- 
ently fighting  against  being  enslaved,  often  took 
a  willing  hand  in  it,  and  was  even  anxious  to 
sell  his  own  countrymen  and  kin  into  slavery. 
Had  he  fought  to  the  finish  or  to  death  this  en- 
slavement, like  the  American  Indian  who 
was  repeatedly  tried,  he  would  not  have  been 
i>o  extensively  made  use  of  and  so  absolutely 
humiliated.  But  the  Negro  people,  like  the 
Jews,  refused  to  become  extinct  under  the  most 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  43 

adverse  circumstances.  They  will  adjust  them- 
selves to  any  condition  imaginable,  and,  unlike 
the  Jews,  will  consent  to  mix  extensively  with 
other  races  with  whom  they  come  in  contact. 

FACTS  BRIEFLY  STATED.— It  was 
avarice  on  the  part  of  the  savage  black  man  who 
often  sold  into  slavery  his  own  kinsmen;  avarice 
on  the  part  of  others  who  bought  them  and  sold 
them ;  avarice  on  the  part  of  nations  who  made  it 
lawful;  avarice  on  the  part  of  the  people  who 
sanctioned  it;  ignorance  on  the  part  of  all;  and 
finally,  all  <was  the  cause  of  the  operation  of  the 
immutable  natural  law  of  dissemination.  This 
fact  we  shall  demonstrate  fully  in  another  part 
of  this  book. 

We  will  here,  without  further  preliminaries, 
concentrate  our  thought  and  attention  entirely 
upon  the  subject  under  consideration,  viz.,  the 
true  Afro-American  (of  mixed  blood)  and  his 
prototype,  both  of  whom  are  vulgarly  called 
"nigger",  by  an  ignorant,  prejudiced  white  popu- 
lace in  America,  and  by  a  deluded,  half-savage 
remnant  of  their  own  race. 

CLASSIFYING  THE  AMERICAN 
NEGRO. — We  would  consider  it  unjust  not  to 
classify  the  Afro-American  in  this  book.  The 
true  African  Negro  is  fast  disappearing.  The 
name  Negro  is  a  misnomer,  in  that  it  conveys  no 
idea  whatever  of  the  true  character  of  the  col- 


44  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ored  Caucasian  people  or  the  Afro-Americans. 
If  statistics  could  be  carefully  taken  it  would 
be  found  that  there  are  less  than  one  million 
absolutely  full-blooded  Africans  in  this  country. 
The  remaining  nine  or  ten  millions  are  of  mixed 
blood.  Four  million  are  decidedly  of  Caucasian 
stamp,  and  are  nothing  less  than  Caucasians  with 
a  strain  of  more  or  less  Negro  blood.  We  speak 
of  this  here  because  we  wish  our  readers  to  bear 
this  fact  in  mind. 


Phft.o.  By  J.  C.  Holmes, Mobile 


It  is  a  curiosity  to  see  a  full-blooded  African  in  many  parts 
of  this  country. 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  45 

CHAPTER  II 

CONFLICTING  ELEMENTS  OF  PROGRESS. 

LACK  OF  CONFIDENCE  — UNDER- 
GROUND CURRENT.— Years  of  residence 
and  careful  observation  and  investigation  in  this 
country,  designated  the  "Darkest  South"  by 
northern  friends,  unacquainted  with  the  tre- 
mendous evolutionary  process  going  on  in  this 
great  Southland,  will  necessarily  change  one's 
preconceived  conceptions  concerning  ten  mil- 
lion people  about  whom  so  much  has  been  said 
and  written,  yet  so  very  little  is  actually  known 
by  casual  observers  of  both  the  North  and  South ; 
and  who  have  heretofore  escaped  all  unbiased, 
earnest  scientific  investigation.  We  dare  say  that 
one  may  become  a  resident  of  any  thickly  settled 
colored  population  in  the  South,  for  a  long  time, 
and  not  gain  its  entire  confidence,  or  become 
acquainted  with  the  deeper  workings,  the  under- 
ground current  of  thought,  the  hidden  convic- 
tions, the  terrible  potent  influence,  which  dom- 
inates a  great  percentage  of  the  colored  people. 

WHITES  DISAPPOINTED  IN  THEM. 

—We  have  met  northern  men  who  have  come 

South  with  the  expectation  of  finding  the  Negro, 

as  a  whole,  a  patient,  docile  animal,  ready  for 


46  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

any  burden,  abuse  and  misuse.  They  were  dis- 
appointed in  him,  and  many  have  now  no  more 
use  for  "niggers"  than  for  very  useless  yellow 
dogs,  who  hang  about  the  kitchen  in  daytime 
and  bark  at  the  moon  at  night.  When  they 
hired  colored  help  they  found  that  such  was 
not  always  anxious  to  do  all  that  was  required 
of  it,  or  that  northern  white  help  is  reputed  to 
do  without  so  carefully  calculating  just  the 
amount  of  physical  exertion,  etc.,  it  takes  to  per- 
form a  certain  work,  and  the  exact  amount  of 
remuneration  that  might  be  forthcoming  for  the 
least  expenditure  of  strength.  Should  they  de- 
sire to  have  work  done  which  requires  a  little 
more  effort  than  other  work  in  the  neighborhood, 
it  is  possible  that  they  may  find  theirs  displaced 
by  an  easier  job.  Hence  it  has  been  said  that 
the  Negro  of  this  generation  is,  to  a  great  extent, 
after  an  easy  job,  plenty  of  time  to  sport  in,  and 
plenty  of  money  to  sport  with.  But  we  have, 
indeed,  found  many  exceptions  to  this  rule. 
There  are  many  individuals  of  the  old  and  new 
South,  in  every  community,"  who  are  hard  work- 
ing, honest,  intelligent,  frugal  people. 

NO  CHEAP  LABOR.— We  are  now  con- 
cerned with  the  present  Negro  in  the,  and  of 
the,  "Darkest  South,"  just  as  we  find  him.  We 
have  been  in  localities  in  several  states  where 
it  is  yet  possible  to  secure  good  farm  labor  for 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  47 

fifty  to  seventy-five  cents  per  day.  We  were 
told  that  it  matters  very  little  whether  the  Negro 
receives  $3  or  $6  per  week;  that  he  would  work 
more  days  for  less  wages,  and  vice  versa.  But 
this  statement,  too,  is  false,  as  many  work  in  one 
place  and  at  the  same  employment  for  many 
years,  just  as  steady  as  any  man  of  the  white 
race.  Considering  their  condition  and  state  of 
environment,  as  many  among  them  save  money 
as  among  the  white  working  people.  Wherever 
northern  men  have  taken  the  reins  of  industry 
in  hand  to  any  extent,  or  where  any  material 
advancement  has  been  made,  wages  have  in- 
creased, and  a  more  hopeful  condition  has 
opened  for  the  Negro. 

COMMERCIAL  GROWTH.— One  cause 
of  the  scarcity  of  labor  and  increase  in  wages 
at  times,  in  many  localities,  is  the  great  activity 
in  the  lumber  and  mining  districts.  Another 
cause  is  the  tremendous  growth  which  the  var- 
ious cities  and  industrial  centers  are  undergoing. 
We  quote  a  few  statistics  from  Washington,  con- 
taining this  information:  "The  commercial 
growth  of  the  South  in  the  last  quarter  century 
has  been  little  short  of  phenomenal. 

Capital  invested  in  factories  has  increased 
from  $257,000,000  in  1880  to  $1,500,000,000  in 
1906.  The  products  of  factories  have  increased 
in  the  same  time  from  $457,000,000  to  $1,750,- 


48  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

000,000.  The  farm  products  have  grown  from 
$660,000,000  to  $1,750,000,000.  Capital  in  cot- 
ton mills  has  leaped  from  $21,000,000  to  $225,- 
000,000.  The  most  stupendous  increase  of  all 
has  been  from  397,000  tons  of  pig  iron  produced 
to  3,100,000  tons,  and  from  179,000  barrels  of 
petroleum  to  42,495,000."  Later  statistics  show 
that  the  manufacturing  interests  have  grown  to 
$2,600,000,000,  and  the  farm  interests  to  $2,200,- 
000,000.  The  exports  from  the  South  in  1908 
were  $648,000,000. 

THE  NEGRO  DISCOVERS  HE  IS 
NEEDED. — The  Negro  man  has  discovered 
the  undisputable  fact  that  he  is  needed,  that  he 
is  an  absolute  necessity,  that  he  is  a  wheel  of 
great  importance  in  the  machinery  of  industry. 
And  there  seems  to  be  a  wide-spread  belief 
among  them  that  the  white  man  owes  them  a 
great  deal  for  services  rendered  by  their  fore- 
fathers, long  and  faithful,  during  slavery  days. 
And  many  harboring  this  corrupt  idea  are  in- 
clined to  collect,  promiscuously,  as  much  of  this 
imaginary  debt  as  they  can,  without  arousing 
too  much  animosity  on  the  part  of  the  unfortun- 
ate debtor.  We  have  found  small  boys  who 
religiously  believe  that  the  "white  folks  sure  owe 
us  ones  something."  This  sentiment  undoubt- 
edly causes  a  great  deal  of  shiftless  and  unsatis- 
factory service  among  this  class,  and  a  great  deal 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  49 

of  the  stealing  to  which  the  lower  class  of 
servants  are  yet  addicted.  During  slavery  days 
slaves  were  often  compelled  to  steal  from  their 
masters,  and  it  is  an  inbred  proclivity  still  pre- 
valent. This  is  undoubtedly  one  reason  so  many 
believe  that  the  white  folks  owe  them  a  living. 
And  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  say  here  that  a 
similar  sentiment  prevails  among  a  class  of 
whites,  just  as  pernicious,  who  claim  that 
another  class  owes  them  a  living. 

In  every  age  and  in  every  country  where  so- 
ciety is  divided  into  two  classes  as  in  the  South, 
and  especially  if  one  of  them  belongs  to  a  dif- 
ferent race,  these  existing  conditions  have  pre- 
vailed. It  is  only  when  all  have  been  more  en- 
lightened, and  a  feeling  of  self-respect  has  been 
created,  that  this  feeling  of  dependence  and 
covetousness  can  be  removed. 

HE  GOES  TO  THE  CITY.— Since  the  city 
offers  the  colored  men  better  opportunities,  they 
have  taken  advantage  of  it,  and  have  left  the 
plantations,  where  they  lived  in  tolerable  har- 
mony with  nature,  under  the  soft  southern 
skies,  for  the  whirl,  smoke,  excitement  and 
trouble-breeding  environment  of  city  life.  We 
believe  that  this  environment,  more  than  any 
other  one  thing  in  the  Negro  race,  is  the  cause 
of  the  present  restless,  turbulent  and  degenerate 
element  among  these  people.  We  give  reason* 


50  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

in  support  of  the  above  statement  in  succeeding 
chapters.  They  have  taken  it  for  granted  that 
all  the  worst  vices  the  whites  are  addicted  to 
must  be  participated  in  in  order  to  be  up  to  date 
—in  every  respect  like  a  white  man  and  woman. 
And  this  contaminating  influence  of  the  con- 
gested city  element  is  rapidly  spreading  through- 
out the  country. 

WE  DEPLORE  THE  FACT  that  the  coun- 
try Negro  has  been,  and  is  today,  allowed  to 
concentrate  in  the  cities,  and  is  fast  accumulat- 
ing a  class  of  which  the  better  men  and  women 
of  both  races  are  thoroughly  ashamed.  We  have 
said  allowed.  We  do  not  mean  by  this  that  the 
Negro  should  have  been  kept  out  of  the  cities 
by  force,  and  evenly  distributed  throughout  the 
country.  He  is  free,  or  at  least  should  be,  to 
go  where  he  chooses;  but  still  that  which  is  for 
the  best  and  highest  interest  of  all  concerned 
should  undoubtedly  be  done.  We  do  not  believe 
that  the  yc'jng  people,  who  have  been  brought 
up  in  the  crowded  city  quarters,  could  be  in- 
duced to  exchange  them  for  the  green  fields,  and 
the  health  and  strength  of  country  life  until  a 
more  healthy  sentiment  is  created.  Many  thou- 
sands are  annually  dying  of  consumption  and 
other  fatal  diseases  in  these  festering  slums,  and 
other  thousands  are  leading  lives  of  utter  de- 
pravity, damning  both  soul  and  body,  sapping 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  51 

the  very  vitality  of  the  race.  After  careful  in- 
vestigation we  are  led  to  say  with  the  strongest 
emphasis,  that  something  must  be  done  to  check 
the  downward  tendency  of  the  race  in  these  city 
slums.  The  white  race  is  as  much  affected  as 
the  black.  A  white  child  is  exposed  to  the  same 
disease  the  colored  nurse  is  subject  to.  And  in 
whatever  other  capacity  the  colored  serve  the 
white,  the  same  is  true. 

Sufficient  inducements  ought  to  be  offered  to 
those  who  are  yet  in  the  country,  and  thereby 
retain  their  services  in  the  rural  districts.  As 
Booker  T.  Washington  and  others  are  doing, 
they  should  receive  better  knowledge  of  agri- 
culture, be  encouraged  to  improve  their  sur- 
roundings, beautify  their  homes,  and  make  their 
habitations  more  comfortable  and  attractive,  and 
conducive  to  higher  moral  and  spiritual  senti- 
ments. There  are  two  sides  to  this  question,  as 
to  every  other.  The  planter  has  in  many  in- 
stances abused  his  power.  He  has  made  the  lot 
of  the  good  colored  man  intolerable  by  his  grab- 
bing proclivity.  It  has  been  so  with  the  Negro 
in  the  past,  and  is  so  today — work,  year  in,  year 
out,  on  the  plantation,  with  the  hope  of  better 
material  conditions  becoming  fainter  and  fainter 
as  he  grows  older,  till  the  last  ray  of  the  setting 
sun  of  his  life's  ambitions  are  obscured  by  the  ut- 
ter darkness  of  despair,  and  the  poor  mortal  tot- 


52  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

ters  along  in  an  aimless,  hopeless  life,  until  his  old 
aching  bones  are  gathered  up  and  dropped  into 
a  hole  in  the  ground  in  some  obscure,  weed- 
covered,  desolate  graveyard.  His  skin  is  black, 
his  ideas  of  life  are  crude;  yet,  no  man,  who 
spends  a  life  of  toil  and  devotion,  fighting  the 
wolf  of  poverty  continually  to  keep  his  wife  and 
little  ones  together  in  the  little  hut  in  the  lane, 
provided  for  him  by  his  master,  is  destitute  of 
ambition;  is  not  without  a  desire  to  achieve 
something,  if  an  opportunity  to  do  so  would  pre- 
sent itself  in  a  tangible  manner.  Be  man  cul- 
tured or  uncultured,  civilized  or  savage,  black 
or  white,  he  has  an  inborn  desire  to  achieve 
something.  This  poor  Negro  farmer  saw  an 
opportunity  to  leave,  and  he  left  the  old  planta- 
tion behind — the  land  of  the  oppressed — and 
now  greater  slavery  threatens  his  children — 
moral  and  physical  degeneracy. 

A  CRY-  FOR  MORE  EFFICIENT 
LABOR. — At  present  a  cry  for  more  efficient 
labor  is  often  heard  in  different  sections  of  the 
South,  especially  in  the  rural  districts,  which  the 
Negro  is  leaving. 

The  planter  cannot  afford  to  pay  high  wages 
for  incompetent  labor  and  make  it  pay.  It  has  been 
said  that  if  ten  million  Italians  and  other  for- 
eigners could  displace  the  Negro  population  of 
the  South,  this  country  would  soon  blossom  like 


OR    THE    FADING    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


53 


And  the  poor  mortal  totters  along  in  an  aimless,  hopeless  life  until 
his  old  aching  bones  are  gathered  up  and  dropped  into  a  hole  in  the 
ground  in  some  obscure,  weed-covered,  desolate  graveyard.  Taken  from 
life. 


54  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

a  rose — so  far  exceeding  present  prosperity  that 
no  comparison  could  be  made.  Here,  it  is 
claimed,  are  the  natural  resources — lumber,  coal, 
iron,  and  shipping  facilities  by  rail  and  water; 
agricultural  possibilities,  climate,  etc. — to  make 
it  great.  But  we  believe  that  the  dream  of  popu- 
lating the  South  with  European  labor  will  never 
be  fully  realized.  We  have  it  from  personal 
investigation,  and  from  men  greatly  interested 
in  the  material  progress  of  this  country,  that 
experiments  made  with  Italians  have  proven 
destructive  to  the  highest  social,  moral  and  po- 
litical interests  of  the  country.  They  relieve 
the  labor  market  where  placed,  it  is  true;  but  is 
this  the  only  interest,  prompted  by  the  avarice 
of  the  large  planters  and  others,  that  we  should 
deem  worthy  of  consideration?  We  would  far 
rather  live  in  an  exclusively  colored  settlement 
than  one  exclusively  Italian,  and  we  have  our 
reasons. 

All  that  we  have  seen  of  the  Italian  settlements 
points  to  nothing  conducive  to  a  higher  mode  of 
living,  and  more  self-pride  in  the  beautifying 
and  building  up  of  their  surroundings,  than  what 
we  find  among  the  lower  class  of  Negroes.  We 
have  also  noticed  that  they  and  the  Negroes 
often  mix,  and  it  does  not  produce  a  very  de- 
sirable progeny.  This  country  needs  more  Ger- 
mans, French,  Swiss,  English  and  Scotch;  first, 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  55 

to  take  advantage  of  the  agricultural  possibil- 
ities; and,  secondly,  to  fill  this  country  with  a 
reliable,  thrifty  stock. 

FOREIGN  IMMIGRATION  WILL 
PROVE  A  BLESSING  TO  THE  NEGRO. 
— A  far-sighted  editorial  appeared  in  the  Odd 
Fellows  Journal  (colored)  of  Philadelphia,  in 
June,  14,  1906,  which  inculcates  a  hope  as  well 
as  a  prophetic  truth,  well  worth  repeating  here. 
It  is  as  follows:  "An  attempt  is  made  to  turn 
the  tide  of  foreign  immigration  southward.  We 
hope  it  will  succeed.  Many  persons  seem  to  see 
in  it  disaster  for  the  Negro;  we  see  in  it  the 
greatest  hope.  There  is  no  reason  why  all  of 
our  race  should  live  in  one  section  of  the  country 
any  more  than  another.  We  admit  that  in  fac- 
tories and  in  the  skilled  mechanical  trades, 
colored  men  cannot  find  employment  in  the 
North.'  While  this  is  true,  it  is  also  true  that 
the  great  majority  of  our  people  in  the  South 
are  farm  hands,  and  there  is  no  locality  in  the 
North  or  West  where  a  colored  farm  hand  can- 
not get  larger  wages  than  he  gets  anywhere  in 
the  South.  There  is  not  a  colored  loafer  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Boston  or  Chicago,  who 
could  not  find  plenty  of  farm  work  to  do  at  good 
wages  if  he  would  only  consent  to  do  it.  It  must 
be  admitted  by  all  who  have  made  any  study  of 
the  matter  that  the  more  American  any  locality 


S«  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

is  the  greater  the  color  prejudice  that  exists.  The 
South  is  the  most  American  section  of  our 
country,  because  but  few  foreigners  have  settled 
there  in  more  than  a  hundred  years. 

So  long  as  the  direct  descendants  of  the  pres- 
ent southerner  control  the  South  the  colored  man 
will  have  a  hard  time.  If  the  great  tide  of  for- 
eign immigration  shall  be  turned  southward,  in 
another  generation,  by  reason  of  the  mixture  of 
blood,  there  will  be  a  new  southern  man  to  all 
intents  and  purposes.  The  foreign  laborer  will 
not  put  up  with  the  treatment  which  the  colored 
laborer  receives.  They  will  not  be  cheated  out 
of  the  crops  by  dishonest  landlords  and  country 
store  keepers.  They  will  be  saving  and  buying 
land.  The  lazy  southern  white  man  will  not  be 
able  to  withstand  their  industrious  competition, 
and  will  have  to  move  out  or  disappear  as  a  re- 
sult of  intermarriage.  All  this  will  produce  a 
new  southern  white  man.  In  this  is  the  black 
man's  only  hope.  Mr.  Ogden  and  the  members 
of  the  Southern  Educational  Board  think  that 
a  new  man  can  be  created  out  of  the  poor  white 
man  of  the  South  by  education.  We  do  not  be- 
lieve it.  Let  the  foreigners  come  in  large  num- 
bers, buy  farms  and  plant  industries,  and  the 
white  man  who  lives  for  the  purpose  of  'keeping 
the  Negro  down,'  will  gradually  disappear." 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  *C 

THE  NEGRO  MUST  BE  TREATED 
WITH  AN  OBJECT.— We  have  the  so-called 
"unsurmountable  obstacle"  to  contend  with — 
the  Negro  folk.  The  most  hated,  abused  des- 
pised, by  certain  classes  of  whites,  in  these  free 
United  States  of  any  country  in  the  world.  They 
were  not  found  in  the  native  African  jungle  as 
they  are,  but  were  made  what  they  are  today  by 
the  grace  of  God  and  the  lash  upon  their  bare 
backs  in  the  hands  of  a  self-styled,  domineering 
aristocracy,  and  concomitant  evils.  It  ought  to 
now  be  the  business  of  every  conscientious  white 
person  to  overlook  the  many  faults  of  this  des- 
pised people,  and  try  to  do  them  good  by  firm 
and  persistent  examples  in  the  arts  of  justice  as 
well  as  industry.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten  you 
will  gain  their  confidence  and  best  efforts  in 
usefulness  by  pursuing  this  course. 


68  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

CHAPTER  III 

THE  "SMART  NEGRO." 

HOW  KNOWLEDGE  SPREAD.— "I  have 
no  use  for  a  smart  nigger."  This  is  a  common 
phrase  now  often  used  by  an  irresponsible  popu- 
lace. Now,  what  may  constitute  a  "smart  nig- 
ger," if  there  is  such  a  being  for  us  to  introduce 
in  these  pages?  Is  this  term  applied  to  all  edu- 
cated Afro-Americans,  or  to  a  certain  class  only? 
We  shall  soon  see.  First,  he  is  supposed  to  be 
one  who  has  come  in  contact  with  the  outer 
world;  one  who  has  left  his  rural  surroundings, 
the  ancient  traditions,  the  submission  and  obe- 
dience to  the  "olci  Massa  in  de  big  house  on  de 
plantation  befo  de  wah."  Secondly,  it  is  the 
offspring  of  this  old  slave  class  now  being  edu- 
cated and  made  mentally  independent,  and  to 
a  marked  degree  self-reliant.  The  process  of 
awakening  of  the  class  above  referred  to  has  been 
long  in  progress.  And  in  this  connection  it  is 
well  for  us  to  remember  that  in  case  slavery  had 
been  prolonged  to  this  day  it  would  have  been 
impossible,  even  under  the  most  adverse  condi- 
tions, to  keep  all  the  Negro  people  in  ignorance 
and  illiteracy.  The  history  of  slavery  testifies 
to  this  fact.  These  people  were  the  quickest  of 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  59 

any  barbarous  race  on  earth  to  perceive  the  touch 
of  the  magic  rod  of  civilization,  not  excepting 
the  Japanese  in  their  willingness  to  learn  and 
rise.  This  characteristic  was  discovered  by  the 
great  patriarchal  planters  long  ere  slavery  was 
abolished  in  the  South. 

THE  OLD  PLANTATION  SLAVE 
SCHOOLS. — In  Louisiana,  for  instance,  they 
conceived  a  plan  of  educating  their  slaves  for 
more  efficient  service,  that  was  so  wise  and  en- 
lightened, and  it  is  proved,  so  substantially  bene- 
ficial, that  it  would  be  well  to  take  it  into  con- 
sideration, at  least  in  some  particulars,  in  the 
study  of  the  present  race  problem.  Long  before 
"Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  was  written,  and  while 
yet  great  slave-holding  magnates  regarded  slav- 
ery as  an  establishment  beyond  the  reach  of  social 
agitation  or  political  vicissitude,  wise  and  kindly 
members  of  the  ruling  class  had  conceived  and 
set  in  motion  a  system  whereby  slavery  could  be 
robbed  of  its  most  repulsive  aspects,  and  be 
transformed  into  an  agency  of  exaltation.  These 
men  were  not  doctrinaires,  but  they  were  human- 
itarians. They  loved  their  slaves,  who  formed 
a  large  part  of  their  active  life  and  thought, 
and  they  felt  it  their  duty  to  lift  them  out  of 
the  mire  of  degradation  and  subjection,  if  such 
a  thing  were  possible.  Thus  it  came  about  that 
schools  were  established  on  hundreds  of  planta- 


60  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

tions ;  nothing  like  our  modern  schools,  of  course, 
but  just  the  plainest  and  simplest  agencies  of  ex- 
periment and  observation.  The  main  object  and 
idea  were  to  disclose  the  special  latent  gifts,  pro- 
clivity or  talent  of  the  scholars,  and  to  cultivate 
and  mature  them  to  their  highest  degree.  Special 
gifts  and  tendencies  were  ascertained,  developed, 
perfected.  And  so  it  followed  that  thousands 
of  slaves  became  bricklayers,  carpenters,  black- 
smiths, tailors,  engineers,  sugar  bailers,  artisans 
of  every  kind,  including  even  musicians.  In 
many  parts  of  the  country  there  may  yet  be  found 
ancient  buildings,  entirely  erected  by  skilled 
slave  labor.  They  were  permitted  to  pursue 
their  vocations  in  freedom,  merely  paying  to 
their  masters  a  small  percentage  on  the  assessed 
value  of  the  individual.  In  all  respects  they 
were  at  liberty.  They  lived  where  they  pleased, 
could  acquire  their  owrn  homes  if  they  wished, 
and  accumulate  their  own  property;  and  in  all 
these  respects  were  protected  by  law.  It  is  said, 
and  no  doubt  true,  that  the  Negro  who  dwelt 
under  this  dispensation,  seventy-five  and  more 
years  ago  enjoyed  more  actual  freedom,  and  re- 
ceived more  substantial  and  respectful  considera- 
tion, than  do  his  descendants  today,  who  are  ex- 
cluded from  m'any  branches  of  industry  by  white 
labor.  Long  before  the  war  there  were  a  few 
schools  for  Negroes  in  Delaware,  Virginia,  and 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  61 

other  slave  states  further  south.  Free  Negro 
children  often  attended  the  white  schools.  In- 
struction was  given  them  everywhere,  often  by 
members  of  their  master's  family,  even  in  viola- 
tion of  the  existing  slave  laws.  And  where  edu- 
cation was  totally  denied  them  they  still  pos- 
sessed their  native  capabilities,  their  natural 
shrewdness,  which  no  master  could  pluck  out 
of  their  soul. 

CHIVALROUS  SPIRITS.  -  -  Chivalrous 
spirits  often  manifested  themselves  in  their  inter- 
course with  their  superiors,  especially  when 
treated  with  kind  consideration  by  them.  Their 
faithfulness  was  often  beyond  computation.  Let 
us  relate  just  one  case  here  to  illustrate  our  point: 
In  South  Carolina  we  came  across  seven  sons 
who  own  seven  farms.  Back  of  these  farms  is  a 
bit  of  history  interesting  to  all  students  of  human 
nature.  Before  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves 
the  owner  of  the  father  of  these  seven  sons  was 
challenged  to  fight  a  duel.  The  old  slave  heard 
of  this,  and  knowing  his  master  was  a  poor  shot, 
went  the  night  before  and  killed  the  man  who 
made  the  challenge.  Upon  investigation  it  was 
found  that  the  old  Negro  had  done  this  on  his 
own  accord.  Of  course  there  was  no  way  to 
save  his  life,  and  he  never  tried  to  save  it.  After 
slaying  the  would-be  slayer  of  his  master,  he 
immediately  made  the  confession  and  gave  him- 


62  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

self  up  to  be  hanged.  We  abhor  the  crime;  we 
revolt  against  it;  but  the  fact  remains  uppermost 
that  the  poor  old  slave,  by  weighing  his  life  and 
the  life  of  his  master  in  the  balance,  decided 
that  the  life  of  his  master  was  of  more  im- 
portance than  that  of  the  poor  old  chattel  he 
was.  When  the  master  died  he  willed  to  each 
of  the  old  slave's  children  a  nice  little  farm,  and 
we  have  heard  it  said  that  he  did  a  just  deed. 

THEY  ARE  BOUND  TO  RISE.— Cases  of 
a  similar  nature  could  be  multiplied  indefin- 
itely; and  some  of  the  most  heroic  deeds  done 
in  the  olden  times  were  unrecorded  and  unre- 
warded. Thus  we  maintain  that  a  truly  worthy 
class  of  men,  bond  or  free,  of  whatever  color, 
will  rise  sooner  or  later  and  come  to  the  top, 
and  will  not  be  downed.  We  recently  read  the 
account  of  an  old  northern  soldier,  who  was  all 
over  this  country  during  the  war.  He  speaks 
of  the  underground  railroad  and  especially  of 
the  remarkable  accurate  knowledge  displayed 
by  the  colored  people,  about  "Lincum  and  his 
sojes,"  during  the  war.  Knowing  these  people 
we  can  well  imagine  that  every  word  spoken  by 
southern  whites,  concerning  the  then  important 
question,  was  carefully  stowed  away  by  slaves, 
who  made  every  effort  to  hear  and  learn,  absorb 
and  repeat  what  they  heard.  Thus  knowledge  of 
existing  conditions  spread,  opinions  were 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  63 

formed,  compared  and  passed  on.  Southern 
whites,  who  were  opposed  to  slavery,  did  some- 
thing to  help  spread  a  knowledge  of  things 
among  them.  Now,  if  these  people  had  such 
a  fair  knowledge  of  "Lincum  and  his  sojes,"  so 
many  years  ago,  what  knowledge  of  Lincum  and 
his  sojes  ought  not  their  children  possess  today? 
The  more  we  investigate  this  matter  the  more 
are  we  convinced  that  there  is  a  process  of  evolu- 
tion going  on  among  these  people  that  cannot 
be  ignored  or  suppressed;  and  if  our  colored 
reader  believes  that  this  process  ought  to  be 
carelessly  considered,  with  regard  to  a  better 
understanding  and  closer  relation  with  the  white 
race,  he  had  better  deport  himself  to  the  haunts 
of  his  fathers  and  shed  his  clothes  of  civilization 
in  the  jungle. 

MAY  AS  WELL  CONFESS  IT.— We 
(North  and  South)  may  as  well  make  an  honest 
confession:  The  Negro,  the  Afro-American,  the 
Colored  Caucasian,  are  fast  outgrowing  all 
bounds  of  what  a  white  populace  in  America, 
deep  down  in  its  heart,  believes  they  ought  to 
be.  Among  them  are  organizations  of  tre- 
mendous influence  and  binding  character.  The 
idea,  if  entertained  by  northerners,  that  the  Ne- 
gro is  not  organized,  cannot  make  a  united  effort 
in  any  line  if  he  desires,  is  not  true.  When  the 
best  interests  of  his  people  are  at  stake,  he  can, 


64  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

if  he  choose,  stand  united,  organized,  ready  for 
an  emergency  if  it  should  arise.  There  is  not 
only  organization,  but  a  tremendous  amount  of 
brain  and  executive  ability  back  of  it. 

NOT  WEAK  AND  HELPLESS.— Out- 
wardly he  may  yet  appear  weak  and  helpless,  but 
in  years  hence,  when  ignorance  and  the  Leop- 
ard's Spots  have  entirely  disappeared,  we  shall 
see  him  in  full  possession  of  his  aspiring  rights. 
It  is  not  the  church  or  religion,  which  has  done 
and  is  still  doing  a  great  deal,  that  has  alone 
wrought  these  conditions.  Schools  bring  him 
enlightenment,  and  fraternal  organizations,  such 
as  Free  Masonry,  Odd  Fellowship,  etc.,  have 
taught  him  the  trick  of  how  to  cement  his  best 
interests.  Few  whites  have  any  idea  of  the  uni- 
versal understanding,  the  dominant  current  of 
interest,  which  prevails  among  many  of  them. 
They  may  be  despised,  abused,  misused  and  ig- 
nored, by  the  class  just  referred  to,  but  as  to 
weakness — in  many  sections  of  the  South  they 
are  not  to  be  considered  as  weak  and  helpless 
as  may  be  supposed,  or  as  may  appear  to  a  casual 
observer  on  the  surface. 

WILL  NOT  SUBMIT  TO  WILES  OF 
WHITE  RELATIVE— They  are  by  nature  not 
a  vicious,  treacherous  people ;  on  the  contrary  we 
find  them  rather  open-hearted,  kindly  disposed, 
sympathetic.  For  example,  we  will  relate  and 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


65 


A  WHIPPING  INCIDENT. 
"Vardaman's  Ideal  of  Justice."    Taken  from  life. 


66  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

illustrate  an  incident  that  came  under  our  ob- 
servation on  a  plantation  in  Alabama.  A  large, 
strong  Negro  had  committed  some  misdemeanor, 
was  tied  to  the  whipping-log  and  whipped  by  his 
boss.  When  he  was  untied  he  straightened  up 
and  said  in  his  most  polite  demeanor:  "Boss,  gib 
me  chew  'bacca."  This  is  a  fair  sample  of  a 
rural  character  of  the  black  belt;  but  this  ad- 
mirable good  humor  could,  of  course,  not  be  uni- 
versally applied.  The  mulatto  and  other  speci- 
mens of  the  white  man's  paternity,  which  seem 
more  prominent  in  towns  and  cities,  and  which 
have  more  nearly  the  characteristics  of  the  white 
man,  do  not  submit  so  willingly  to  the  wiles  of 
their  white  relatives,  without  feeling  the  blood 
of  their  parentage  boil  in  their  veins.  This  black 
brother  may  feel  the  same  sting,  but  refrain  from 
manifesting  it.  He  is  the  embryonic  gentleman. 
WOULD  BE  NO  RACE  QUESTION.- 
We  do  not  hesitate  to  say  here  that  we  are  fully 
convinced  of  the  fact,  that  if  the  white  man  had 
absolutely  abstained  from  crossing  with  the 
Negro  on  this  continent,  there  would  be  no  race 
question  to  solve  in  America  for  many  years  to 
come.  An  absolutely  pure-blood  African  is  hard 
to  find  in  many  parts  of  the  South.  It  is  indeed 
a  case  of  self-approbation.  The  white  man's 
blood  in  the  black  man's  veins  cries  today  for, 
and  instinctively  demands,  recognition;  and  it 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  67 

would  be  a  careless  observer,  indeed,  who  does 
not  discern  this  fact. 

THE  WHITE  MAN'S  BLOOD.— A  well- 
known  business  man  of  Mobile,  Alabama,  told  us 
years  ago  that  the  only  tangible  hope  of  the 
colored  man  in  America  was  "the  white  man's 
blood  in  his  veins."  At  the  time  we  could  not 
yet  sympathize  with  such  a,  then  to  us,  shocking 
view;  but  we  have  long  since  realized  the  undis- 
putable  fact  conveyed  in  that  statement — viz., 
that  assimilation  by  amalgamation  will  prove 
the  only  ultimate  settlement  of  the  race  question 
in  this  country,  provided,  however,  that  other 
legitimate  means  be  employed  therewith,  and 
scientifically  carried  out. 

THE  WHITE  MAN  STANDS  AC- 
CUSED BEFORE  GOD.— At  present  the 
southern  white  man  stands  accused  before  God 
and  all  mankind.  His  colored  offspring  are 
legion,  and  largely  disowned  and  ignored  by 
him.  A  crime  has  been  committed.  The  keen 
knife  of  justice  must  at  last  cut  to  the  quick! 
The  criminal  has  gone  free,  and  they  of  innocent 
birth  have  often  borne  the  punishment  at  the 
hands  of  the  evil-doer.  But,  nevertheless,  we 
believe  justice  will  ultimately  prevail.  History 
repeats  itself.  Let  such  men  as  Tillman,  Varda- 
man,  Dixon,  Watson,  and  many  others  cry: 
"Keep  the  nigger  in  his  place."  Let  the  north- 


68  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ern  man  settle  throughout  the  South  at  a  rapid 
rate,  as  he  is  doing  at  present,  and  have  his  say. 
A  real  American  (smart)  Negro  is  not  imported 
stock.  It  is  homebred,  right  down  in  the  woods, 
on  the  prairie,  in  the  city  and  town — everywhere 
in  the  broad  Southland.  He  is  a  new  creation, 
as  Luther  Burbank  would  say;  the  result  of 
many  years  of  intimate  relations  with  his  white 
superiors ;  and  he  is  not  a  real  Negro.  Can  these 
superiors  today  ignore  and  condemn  the  result 
of  this  relationship?  The  "smart  nigger"  is 
ninety  per  cent  a  man  of  marked  Caucasian  char- 
acteristics and  not  a  Negro  at  all,  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  word:  but  a  man  of  color,  a  true 
Colored  Caucasian,  the  son  or  grandson  of  a 
white  parent. 

To  our  mind  the  "absolute  separation"  of  the 
races,  so  much  spoken  of  and  agitated  at  present, 
and  believed  in  by  some  prominent  colored  and 
white  men,  should  have  been  absolute  before  so 
many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  mulattoes  and 
quadroons  were  born.  Let  us  get  out  from  be- 
hind the  mask  of  deceit,  once  for  all,  and  tell 
the  naked  truth  in  this  regard. 

NEGRO  CANNOT  BE  DEPORTED.— 
Such  talk  as  the  deportation  or  absolute  separa- 
tion of  the  colored  people  is  too  absurd  to  think 
of  seriously. 

A  certain  criminal  class,  dangerous  and  un- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  69 

profitable  to  the  State  may  be  thus  treated,  but 
not  respectable  citizens.  The  Chicago  Chron- 
icle said  some  time  ago:  "Somehow,  in  some 
way,  the  white  people  of  the  South  and  the 
Negroes  have  got  to  live  together.  A  modus 
vivendi  must  be  established,  for  if  anything  is 
certain  it  is  that  all  propositions  to  colonize  the 
Negroes  or  to  deport  them  are  impracticable. 
There  is  no  place  to  which  to  send  the  Negroes, 
and  if  there  were  such  a  place  the  Negroes 
would  not  go. 

Southern  politicians  like  Senator  Tillman, 
and  southern  newspapers  like  the  Charleston 
News  and  Courier  talk  airily  about  the  separa- 
tion of  the  races,  but  neither  Mr.  Tillman  nor 
the  editor  of  the  Charleston  News  really  believe 
that  the  thing  is  possible.  This  is  because  any 
rational  man  must  realize  that  the  task  of  evict- 
ing 10,000,000  of  people  from  the  land  in  which 
they  were  born  would  mean  wholesale  slaughter 
—slaughter  so  appalling  that  not  the  most  rabid 
negiophobe  would  invoke  it.  The  Negroes  cer- 
tainly would  resist  the  effort  to  deport  them.  We 
need  not  "go  into  the  right  or  wrong  of  the  mat- 
ter at  all  to  be  certain  that  the  blacks  of  the 
South,  born  there  and  citizens  of  the  country 
for  several  generations,  would  to  a  great  extent 
resist  with  force  an  effort  to  expatriate  them.  If 
only  one  in  ten  of  them  resisted,  the  struggle  to 


70  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

evict  them  would  be  the  bloodiest  in  the  history 
of  mankind.  The  hunted  man  defends  his  home 
to  the  death.  But  all  these  probabilities  and 
suppositions  are  idle  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  available  place  to  which  to  deport 
the  Negroes.  Liberia  is  too  poor  and  weak  to 
undertake  the  assimilation  of  such  a  tremendous 
new  population.  German  South  Africa  has 
enough  trouble  with  her  blacks  without  wanting 
any  more.  The  British  possessions  in  Africa 
are  equally  averse  to  the  immigration  of  more 
Negroes. 

No  place  on  the  wide  globe  offers  a  welcome 
to  the  American  Negro,  especially  if  he  were 
to  come  by  hundreds  of  thousands.  He  was 
brought  to  this  country  by  compulsion,  we  may 
be  sure  that  he  will  not  leave  it  through  per- 
suasion. 

Moreover,  in  spite  of  Senator  Tillman  and  his 
newspaper  echoes,  the  South  will  not  permit 
the  Negroes  to  leave,  even  if  they  were  disposed 
to  do  so.  Who  would  replace  the  Negro  in 
southern  agriculture  and  manufactures?  Where 
would  the  South  get  the  men  to  cultivate  its  cot- 
ton and  wheat  and  sugar  and  oats?  Until  these 
questions  are  practically  answered  we  may  ig- 
nore the  deportation  plan. 

The  Negro  will  not  leave  the  South  for  two 
reasons — first,  that  there  is  nowhere  for  him  to 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  71 

go;  and  secondly,  because  the  southern  whites 
would  not  permit  him  to  go  upon  any  considera- 
tion."* 

We  ask  this  sensible  question :  Can  any  people 
have  a  more  legitimate  claim  on  any  country 
than  the  colored  man  of  the  white  race? 

AN  ENDLESS  RELATIONSHIP  BE- 
TWEEN THE  RACES  IN  THE  SOUTH.- 
The  American  Colored  Caucasian  is  distinctly 
a  native  of  this  country.  He  could  not  and 
would  not  recognize  any  other.  His  relation- 
ship often  runs  like  an  endless  chain  from  his 
white  parent  through  succeeding  generations. 
Where  could  that  chain  be  broken,  should  the 
deportation  scheme  be  inaugurated  by  the  state 
or  government?  His  mother,  grandmother  or 
great  grandmother  was  a  Negress,  no  doubt,  but 
does  that  make  him  a  criminal,  or  a  confirmed 
anarchist  to  be  banished  from  American  soil? 
No,  not  if  there  is  an  infinitesimal  tendency  to 
justice  left  in  the  dominant  white  American.  It 
is  too  well  known  that  the  greatest  men  and 
women  of  African  descent  in  America,  are  the 
direct  or  indirect  offspring  of  some  of  the  best 
and  bluest  blood  in  the  country.  Separate  all 
these  from  the  Negro  race,  to  which  they  do  no 
more  belong  than  to  the  Caucasian  race,  and  the 

*See  "An  Optimistic  View  of  the  Negro  Question"  in  our 
resum*. 


72 


HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  73 

black  sons  of  Africa,  in  this  country,  would  be 
a  lonesome  fraction  of  acquired  civilization. 
The  fact  is  undisputable,  the  black  man  cannot 
get  along  without  his  brown  and  yellow  brother; 
neither  does  the  white  brother  care  to  separate 
himself  entirely  from  his  colored  kin.  If  there  is  to 
be  any  separation,  it  ought  to  be  a  thorough  one. 
There  ought  to  be  a  law  prohibiting  the  black- 
skinned  Negro  from  intermarrying  with  the 
white-skinned  Caucasian  Negress,  and  vice 
versa.  If  the  frequent  mixing  and  mating  of 
these  classes  is  not  intermarriage,  what  is  it? 
The  southern  lawmaker  ought  to  look  into  this 
matter,  and  prevent  the  Negro  from  further  mix- 
ing with  the  mixed,  so  the  mixed  may  only  mix 
with  the  mixed,  that  their  colored  offspring  may 
not  lose  their  identity.  If  he  prohibits  one  class 
from  mixing,  he  should  be  fair  and  prohibit  all 
mixing. 

GIVE  CREDIT  WHERE  IT  IS  DUE.- 
Negro  writers  often  misplace  credit  in  lauding 
men  and  women  who  have  some  Negro  blood 
in  them,  and  who  have  achieved  success  in  life; 
attributing  that  success  or  intellectual  ability  en- 
tirely to  the  race.  We  will  take  an  example  out 
of  a  book  written  by  a  man  who  is  himself  of 
mixed  blood.  He  starts  out  in  giving  the  gen- 
ealogy of  a  certain  well-known  man  as  follows ; 
"His  father  was  a  white  man,  and  his  mother 


74  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

was  three  parts  white."  He  ends  by  saying,  "He 
was  a  life-long  Republican,  and  a  man  of  whom 
his  race  should  be  proud."  What  race?  His 
own  (Colored  Caucasian)  race;  the  black  or 
the  white?  Which?  This  writer  has,  of  course, 
the  big,  black  race  in  mind.  He  would  make  the 
reader  believe  that  this  man's  talent  or  intellect 
is  all  "black."  But  if  he  really  means  to  convey 
the  idea  that  this  man's  own  people,  the  Colored 
Caucasian  race,  should  be  proud  of  him,  then 
he  gives  credit  to  the  ability,  capacity  and  in- 
tellect of  this  wonderful  new  race,  where  credit 
is  due. 

When  the  Negro,  like  any  other  race,  is 
mixed  with  Caucasian  or  any  other  foreign 
blood,  his  greatness  or  capabilities  can  no  more 
be  attributed  to  the  black  blood  than  to  the  for- 
eign blood  in  him.  When  Negro  writers  speak 
of  the  wonderful  advancement  of  the  Negro, 
let  them  be  fair  and  not  palm  off  on  a  reading 
public  the  remarkable  intellectual  growth  and 
capability  of  a  mixed  people  as  all  "black  great- 
ness." When  we  speak  of  Negro  greatness,  we 
ought  to  confine  ourselves  within  the  bounds  of 
genuine,  unmixed  magnanimity,  and  not  sand- 
wich in  every  fair-skinned  man  and  woman  the 
southerner  calls  "smart  nigger." 

We  have  said  before  that  ninety  per  cent  of 
the  so-called  "smart  niggers"  of  superior  cap- 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  75 

ability  are  of  mixed  breed;  and  that  this  asser- 
tion we  wish  our  readers  to  bear  in  mind.  Also 
the  further  fact  that  the  most  progressive  people 
in  the  world  have  always  been  more  or  less  of 
mixed  stock — that  progress  and  commingling 
go  hand  in  hand. 

SOME  SMART  NEGROES.— We  wish  we 
could  give  several  hundred  names,  emphasizing 
the  foregoing  facts,  but  we  can  only  give  the 
names  of  a  small  number  of  men  and  women 
here,  owing  to  space.  Our  readers  will  kindly 
remember  that  we  give  the  below  names  merely 
as  illustrations,  and  that  there  are  hundreds  of 
others  equally  as  worthy  of  a  place  among  the 
noted  men  and  women  of  mixed  blood  in  the 
race. 

Honorable  Frederick  Douglass  was  consid- 
ered the  most  note-d  Negro  in  America.  One- 
half  Caucasian.  Great  orator,  anti-slavery  editor, 
marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  Recorder 
of  Deeds  of  Columbia,  a  leading  Republican. 
Born  about  1817,  in  Maryland.  His  second  wife 
was  a  white  woman. 

Professor  Booker  T.  Washington,  one  of  the 
foremost  educators  in  America.  One-half  or 
more  Caucasian.  President  of  the  Tuskegee 
Normal  and  Industrial  school;  champion  of 
Negro  industrial  education,  noted  orator  and 
successful  financier  and  teacher.  He  was  born 


76  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

at  Hale's  Ford  Post-office,  Franklin  county,  Vir- 
ginia, April  1 8,  1856.  His  mother  was  the  cook 
on  the  slave  plantation,  and  named  Jane  Fur- 
guson.  His  owner  was  James  Borroughs. 

Honorable  P.  B.  S.  Pinchback,  successful 
Negro  politician.  Lieutenant  Governor  of 
Louisiana,  United  States  senator,  lawyer,  prom- 
inent Republican,  man  of  wealth.  His  mother 
was  known  as  a  mulatto  who  may  have  had  some 
Indian  blood.  His  father,  Major  Pinchback,  a 
Mississippian,  was  the  owner  of  his  mother,  by 
whom  he  had  ten  children.  In  1836  Major 
Pinchback  went  to  Philadelphia  with  his  slave 
wife  and  manumitted  her.  She  remained  with 
him  after  her  freedom. 

Honorable  Theophile  T.  Allain,  State's  sen- 
ator of  Louisiana,  agitator  of  educational  meas- 
ures and  internal  improvements  in  his  state. 
Politician  and  business  man.  Born  October  ist, 
1845,  on  the  Australian  plantation;  his  mother 
being  a  pretty  brown  woman,  his  father,  her 
owner,  was  Sosthene  Allain,  a  millionaire  of 
great  culture.  This  gentleman  set  aside  the  cus- 
tom of  the  land  and  treated  his  little  brown  wife 
with  the  greatest  respect,  surrounding  her  with 
all  the  comforts  and  pleasures  at  his  command. 
He  loved  his  son  Theophile  so  intensely  that  he 
often  refused  to  dine  without  him  at  the  table, 
and  when  traveling  abroad  he  accompanied  him. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  77 


A  GROUP  OF  "SMART  NEGROES"  BORN  DURING  SLAVERY. 

1.  Robert  Harlan.  2.  J.  T.  Settle. 

3.  P.  B.  S.  Pinchback.  4.  T.  T.  Allain. 


78  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

Rev.  Henry  McNeal  Turner,  D.  D.  LL.D., 
bishop  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church.  Philosopher, 
politician,  orator,  eminent  lecturer,  author,  in- 
tense race  man,  United  States  chaplain,  etc.  He 
was  born  near  Newsberry  Court-House,  South 
Carolina,  February  ist,  1833.  He  is  the  oldest 
child  of  Howard  and  Sarah  Turner.  His 
father's  ancestry  was  but  little  known  to  him  as 
his  mother  was  a  German  white  woman,  but  on 
his  mother's  side  it  is  well  known,  she  being  the 
youngest  daughter  of  an  African  king's  lineage. 

Rev.  Lemuel  Hayes,  A.  M.,  who  was  born  in 
1753  of  an  African  father  and  white  mother,  and 
who  was  a  distinguished  theologian — the  first 
titled  man  of  Negro  blood  in  America — should 
not  be  forgotten  by  his  people  or  the  white  race 
as  a  remarkable  man  of  mixed  African  and  Cau- 
casian blood.  A  historian  speaks  of  this  early 
admixture  of  the  two  races  as  follows :  "A  native 
African  and  a  white  woman!  'Holy  horror!' 
cries  somebody.  'How  curious  they  did  not  hang 
him.'  They  were  honorably  married  and  he 
was  popular.  The  black  face  was  a  thing  of 
beauty  to  his  wife,  who  saw  a  man  with  an  in- 
tellectual soul  and  loved  him.  Love  laughs  at 
locks  and  bars,  and  even  the  color  of  a  man's 
skin.  Both  parties  will  cross  the  line." 

Honorable  Joslah  T.  Settle,  A.B.,  A.M., 
LL.B.  An  able  lawyer,  eloquent  orator,  legis- 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  79 

lator.  Was  assistant  attorney-general  of  Shelby 
county,  Tennessee,  etc.  He  was  born  September 
30,  1850,  on  Cumberland  Mountains,  while  his 
father  and  mother  were  en  route  from  North 
Carolina  to  Mississippi.  His  parents  were 
named  Josiah  and  Nancy  Settle,  Nancy  being 
the  slave  wife  of  Mr.  Settle,  who  belonged  to 
the  famous  Settle  family  of  Rockingham,  North 
Carolina.  He  had  no  white  wife  at  the  time  he 
began  to  raise  a  family  with  his  slave.  After 
a  few  years  residence  in  Mississippi,  he  manu- 
mitted his  children  and  their  mother.  But  he 
was  informed  that  he  could  not  remain  in  Mis- 
sissippi, as  the  laws  of  that  state  forbade  "free 
niggers"  to  reside  therein.  In  March,  1856.  he 
carried  them  to  Hamilton,  Ohio,  where  he 
bought  them  a  house  and  located  them,  spend- 
ing his  summers  with  them  and  his  winters  on 
his  southern  plantation.  Then  another  difficulty 
arose.  His  northern  neighbors  informed  him 
that  he  could  not  continue  his  relations  with  the 
woman  unless  he  married  her.  He  answered: 
"That  is  what  I  have  always  desired  to  do."  In 
1858  the  mother  of  his  children  became  his  law- 
ful wife  in  the  presence  of  their  children,  and 
by  that  act  also  legitimate.  He  espoused  the 
Union  cause  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  re- 
mained with  his  colored  wife  until  his  death 
in  1869.  This  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  ex- 


80  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

amples  of  the  love  and  loyalty  of  a  southern 
gentleman,  for  his  children  and  their  mother 
of  color,  that  we  can  find  in  the  history  of  that 
dark  day.  It  reminds  us  of  a  number  of  like 
cases,  as  we  have  found  them  at  the  present  time 
in  many  parts  of  the  South.  We  regret  to  say 
that  this  country  is  just  as  much  in  the  dark 
thraldom  of  slavery  for  the  colored  woman  who 
has  found  her  affinity  in  a  white  man,  as  it  was 
in  the  days  gone  by,  as  far  as  a  legal  union  is 
concerned,  and  her  rights  before  the  law  as  a 
legal  wife. 

Colonel  Robert  Harlan,  born  in  Mecklenburg 
county,  Virginia,  December  12,  1816.  His  father 
was  a  white  man  and  his  mother  three  parts 
white.  He  was  a  shrewd,  persevering  business 
man,  a  legislator  and  public-spirited  man.  He 
resided  in  England  a  number  of  years. 

Samuel  Jefferson  Davis,  successful  business 
man,  a  millionaire.  Born  on  the  Davis  planta- 
tion in  Mississippi,  in  1840.  When  Jefferson 
Davis  was  chosen  to  the  highest  office  in  the  Con- 
federacy his  slave,  Sam,  went  to  Milledgeville> 
the  first  capital,  with  him.  At  the  close  of  the 
war,  Jefferson  Davis  gave  him  $500.00  and  told 
him  to  move  to  the  North  to  live  his  new  life 
as  a  free  man.  Sam  obeyed  and  is  now  one  of 
the  richest  Negroes  in  the  country. 

Rev.  Bartlett  Taylor,  a  financier  and  one  of 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS 


81 


the  great  pioneer  Christian  workers  in  the 
Negro  race.  He  was  born  in  Henderson  county, 
Kentucky,  February  14,  1815.  His  mother  be- 


I7)tellect 


longed  to  Jonathan  Taylor,  who  was  her  master 
and  his  father. 

Bishop  James  Varick,  the  founder  of  the  Af- 
rican Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  was 
born  about  1750.  It  has  been  difficult  to  tell  to 


82  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

what  nationality  he  belonged.  It  is  certain,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  of  Dutch  extraction.  His 
father  was  born  in  Hackensack,  New  Jersey,  but 
moved  to  New  York  with  his  parents  when  a 
child.  It  is  certain  that  through  the  veins  of 
Bishop  Varick  flowed  the  blood  of  the  Negro, 
the  Dutchman  and  the  Indian.  The  great  dome 
of  his  cranium  shows  him  to  have  been  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  remarkable  mind.  In  him  seemed  to 
have  centered  the  characteristics  of  three  races, 
in  that  early  day.  Rev.  B.  F.  Wheeler,  D.D.,  who 
is  the  author  of  a  book  on  the  uVarick  Family," 
has  this  to  say  of  James  Varick's  genealogy: 
"In  the  history  of  New  York  city  the  rich  and 
distinguished  Varick  family  has  figured  most 
conspicuously  in  its  social,  political  and  com- 
mercial life  for  the  last  two  centuries.  One  of 
the  members  of  this  cultured  Varick  family  was 
mayor  of  New  York  city.  The  Varick  Bank  of 
New  York  city  is  named  in  honor  of,  and  con- 
trolled by  this  same  strong  and  influential  fam- 
ily. Varick  street,  on  which  I  have  walked 
many  times,  which  runs  from  Clarkson  street 
to  Canal,  is  also  named  after  this  distinguished 
family.  It  is  possible  that  Varick's  mother  at 
one  time  was  a  slave  in  the  family."  This  same 
biographer  of  the  bishop  states  that  the  hair  of 
this  man  was  straight  and  his  beard  curly. 

Among  the  leading  colored  Caucasian  women 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  83 

we  would  mention  Mrs.  Mary  Church  Terrell, 
Mrs.  Josephine  St.  P.  Ruffin,  Olivia  D.  Wash- 
ington, Fannie  Barrier  Williams,  and  a  host  of 
others,  equally  noted. 

THE  FULL-BLOODED  NEGRO  HAS 
TALENT. — In  this  chapter  we  have  perhaps 
made  the  impression  that  we  do  not  give  any 
credit  to  the  ability  of  the  full-blood  African 
who  has  exhibited  wonderful  mental  capacity 
and  natural  capability  in  many  instances  in  this 
country.  We  wish  to  say  that  we  give  full 
credit  to  the  pure-blood  Negro,  for  all  that  he 
has  done  in  the  way  of  exhibiting  his  ability  to 
obtain  a  full  grasp,  in  many  instances,  of  the 
learning  of  the  Caucasian.  He  has  by  no  means 
been  entirely  exempt  from  becoming  a  "smart 
nigger."  In  each  succeeding  generation  he 
climbs  higher  and  comes  nearer  the  recognized 
standard  of  the  Caucasian  mind. 

Extraordinary  ability  is  rare  in  any  race,  and 
it  is  not  confined  to  any  one  race,  but  is  about 
equally  divided.  It  may  be  latent  in  the  full- 
blood  Negro  in  America,  to  a  large  extent,  but 
it  is  by  no  means  absent — no,  not  even  in  the 
wildest  African  savage.  Many  African  slaves 
brought  to  this  country  had  the  high  intellectual 
forehead  of  "Uncle  Tom"  in  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin, 
and  these  "niggers"  were  always  considered  dan- 
gerous by  the  slave  dealers.  Before  they  set  their 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


MOSES  MEETS  PRINCESS  THARBIS. 

Moses,  the  great  Hebrew  law-giver,  conquered,  by  means  of 
love,  the  impregnable  Ethiopian  stronghold  and  married  Princess 
Tharbis. 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  85 

foot  on  American  soil  they  were  ordained  by 
Nature  to  become  "smart  niggers."  By  some 
mysterious  process  of  evolution  Nature  had  al- 
ready endowed  them  with  a  marked  mental  ca- 
pacity. But  was  it  of  late  formation — this  su- 
perior intellectuality  in  the  savage  African?  We 
think  not.  The  same  dark-skinned  people  had 
possession  of  it  before  the  pyramids  were  built. 

We  do  not  know  the  ancestry  of  Phillis 
Wheatley,  the  little  African  slave  girl,  who  pos- 
sessed such  a  wonderful  intellect.  She  may  have 
had  the  blood  of  Princess  Tharbis,  the  daughter 
of  the  powerful  Ethiopian  king  whom  Moses 
married,  in  her  veins,  for  all  we  know. 

We  do  not  know  the  ancestry  of  Toussaint 
L'Ouverture,  that  Negro  soldier,  statesman  and 
martyr,  who  stands  without  a  parallel  in  the 
history  of  the  modern  Negro  race.  He  may 
have  had  the  blood  of  a  great  Pharaoh  coursing 
through  his  veins. 

From  the  earliest  history  the  Nigritic  or  Ham- 
itic  branch  of  the  human  family  has  been  the 
"mixer"  of  the  world.  In  Africa  superior  blood 
has  always  mixed  with  the  inferior,  whenever 
coming  in  contact  with  it.  In  America  it  does 
the  same.  While  the  direct  or  indirect  admix- 
ture of  foreign  blood  evidently  gives  superior 
capability  in  the  Negro  race  in  America  as  well 
as  in  Africa,  there  have  been  some  instances  in 


86  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

which  giant  intellects  have  developed  in  the  ap- 
parently pure-blood  Negro  of  today.  The 
Negro  is  more  capable  of  mental  growth,  taking 
him  as  a  whole,  than  any  other  unmixed  primi- 
tive race.  But  this  book  is  not  written  to  prove 
to  our  readers  that  pure  blood  is  an  infallible 
sign  of  mental  and  physical  superiority.  Today 
the  theory  of  pure-blooded  superiority  falls  flat. 
Any  one  advocating  it  is  either  prejudiced  or  a 
fool,  or  both.  This  is  true  of  the  white  race  as 
well  as  the  black.  It  is  our  object  to  repudiate 
this  theory  in  this  book.  The  civilized  world 
has  outgrown  it,  this  country  proclaims  it  a  lie; 
ignorance  and  racial  prejudice  alone  worships 
at  the  altar  of  this  egotistical,  pure-blooded 
shrine  in  America. 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  87 

CHAPTER  IV 

EDUCATION  AND   EQUALITY 

EDUCATION  IN  A  REPUBLIC  MEANS 
EQUALITY. — As  long  as  there  are  some  peo- 
ple illiterate  and  some  educated,  in  a  republican 
form  of  government  not  thoroughly  Christian- 
ized, so  long  must  there  necessarily  be  social 
differences  and  a  marked  inequality;  but  in  no 
republic  can  there  be  an  inequality  among  its 
citizens  when  all  have  obtained  an  education 
at  the  expense  of  the  state.  Furthermore,  there 
can  be  no  radical  race  distinctions,  color  lines, 
castes,  etc.,  among  its  intelligent  citizens,  as  they 
are  directly  opposed  to  and  detrimental  to  the 
highest  principles  and  ideals  of  a  true  republic. 

The  race  hatred,  as  manifested  at  the  present 
time  between  the  white  and  colored  people,  is 
the  drifting  sand  under  the  foundation  of  our 
republic.  If  education  will  not  eradicate  this 
anti-Republican  spirit  of  race  hatred,  then  this 
flaw  in  the  foundation  of  our  country  will  wreck 
it,  and  we  shall  experience  a  calamity! 

Equal  educational  advantages  and  equal  abil- 
ity make  all  men  equal  if  nothing  else  can,  re- 
gardless of  race  or  color,  and  to  contend  other- 
wise betrays  rank  idiocy  or  helpless  egotism. 


88  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

No  people  have  a  moral  right  to  provide  educa- 
tional advantages  for  another  people,  and  then, 
when  educated,  brand  them  as  social  inferiors 
and  political  outcasts.  When  their  minds  have 
been  trained,  redeemed,  refined, — made  capable 
of  meeting,  on  intellectual  ground,  any  man  of 
any  race  on  earth, — there  can  be  no  inequality. 
What  folly  it  is,  indeed,  to  allow,  or  be  the  means 
of  allowing,  the  white,  yellow,  brown  and  black- 
est Negro  an  education,  and  then  become  a  men- 
ace instead  of  a  blessing  to  his  country?  The 
prime  object  of  education,  of  free  schools,  is  to 
make  better  citizens.  If  this  object  is  defeated 
education  is  a  curse  and  not  a  blessing,  and  ought 
to  be  prohibited  for  the  best  interests  of  the  land. 
We  wish  we  could  impress,  with  life-long  in- 
delibleness,  upon  the  minds  of  all  whites,  North 
and  South,  the  tremendous  fact  that  equal  social 
privileges  must  be  extended  to  the  educated 
colored  people,  as  well  as  political  and  industrial 
rights,  or  every  opportunity  to  obtain  an  educa- 
tion must  be  absolutely  closed  to  them  at  once. 
Few  people  realize  what  fifty  years  of  struggle 
upwards  have  accomplished  among  them.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  the 
illiteracy  was  almost  one-hundred  per  cent;  this 
proportion  has  been  decreased  to  forty  per  cent 
for  the  country  at  large  and  to  forty-five  per 
cent  in  the  South.  Now  that  a  firm  footing  has 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  89 

been  obtained,  what  will  not  another  fifty  years 
bring  forth?  There  will  be  little  or  no  illiteracy 
found  among  them  at  that  time.  We  wonder 
if  there  is  one  intelligent  reader  of  this  book, 
no  matter  how  embittered  he  may  be  against 
the  Negro,  who  believes  that  ten,  twenty,  fifty 
million  people — educated  American  people — 
will  submit  to  the  base  inferiority  to  which  they 
are  subjected  today.  Show  us  a  single  instance 
in  history  where  such  a  thing  was  possible  among 
any  people  of  any  nation  or  race.  There  is  no 
use  for  the  Tillman  and  Vardaman  crowd  to  try 
to  convince  the  country  that  the  educated  Negro 
can  be  "held  in  the  tongs  of  the  law,"  as  the 
Mississippian  puts  it.  He  is  bound  to  procure  an 
equal  privilege  in  holding  the  "law-tongs."  A 
horse  or  mule  may  be  a  silent  partner  in  the 
development  of  a  country,  but  not  a  thinking, 
educated  man.  An  educated  Negro  is  not  a 
mule  or  other  beast  of  burden  for  a  white  man 
to  ride.  If  he  attempts  to  ride  him  he  is  bound 
to  kick. 

BRUTE  FORCE  MAY  BE  USED.— If  the 
race  prejudice  on  both  sides  is  an  incurable  in- 
sanity, if  the  method  we  suggest  of  disposing  of 
the  undesirable  element,  and  the  assimilation 
by  legal  amalgamation  of  the  eligible  is  impos- 
sible, then  the  race  problem  can  settle  or  solve 
itself  only  by  falling  back  on  the  brute  or  prim- 


90  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

itive  condition  of  man,  when  ultimately  the  fit- 
test will  survive.  Such  retrogression  is  possible, 
but  not  allowable  in  this  late  day.  The  civilized 
world  would  protest  against  the  extermination 
of  the  colored  population  in  America.  The 
North  would  put  its  big  foot  of  protest  on  the 
neck  of  the  race  hating  anarchist  and  forbid  it. 
When  a  crisis  arrives  it  would  not  allow  either 
race  to  take  advantage  of  the  other.  A  race  war 
would  be  impossible  with  the  interference  of  the 
North.  No  matter  how  well  the  South  might 
be  prepared  for  the  struggle,  its  cause  would  go 
down  ignominiously.  And  in  case  the  crisis  ar- 
rives when  the  United  States  is  in  a  fierce  com- 
bat with  the  Japanese,  the  cause  of  the  Negro 
would  win  without  the  interference  of  any  white- 
skinned  nation,  and  the  southern  states  would 
come  permanently  under  the  control  of  the 
Japanese  government. 

THE  JAPANESE  MAY  OWN  THE 
SOUTHERN  STATES.— If  the  educated 
colored  people  of  the  South  are  permanently  de- 
prived of  their  citizenship  and  equal  opportun- 
ity by  the  southern  whites,  it  will  only  be  a  mat- 
ter of  time  when  the  southern  states  will  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  Japanese.  The  Japanese  are 
looking  for  a  footing  on  American  soil.  Because 
of  their  color  they  have  been  insulted  and  ex- 
cluded from  the  States.  Ten  million  colored 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  91 

people  are  in  sympathy  with  this  yellow  brother, 
and  would  welcome  him  with  open  arms  should 
he  decide  to  cast  his  lot  with  them.  The  Japan- 
ese and  Negro  are  the  greatest  fighters  in  the 
world,  of  this  we  give  scientific  proof  in  another 
chapter. 

Should  these  two  races  ever  unite  and  amalga- 
mate on  American  soil,  the  most  powerful  na- 
tion the  world  has  ever  known  would  in  time 
result.  What  such  a  union  would  mean  to  the 
American  Caucasian  is  easy  to  foresee.  And, 
for  that  matter,  it  is  just  as  easy  to  foresee  the 
possibility  of  such  a  union.  It  is  within  the 
power  of  the  whites  of  the  country  today  to  pro- 
mote or  retard  such  a  union,  just  as  they  will  it. 
The  Negro  will  love  the  white  man  if  the  white 
man  will  love  him.  If  education  will  not  fit  him 
to  take  up  life  with  equal  opportunities  with 
his  white  brother,  should  some  unknown  colored 
brother  appear  and  offer  him  equality,  he  will 
accept  it  with  a  glad  heart. 

The  southern  states  are  peculiarly  fitted  to  re- 
ceive the  Japanese,  and  they  would  feel  at  home 
among  the  black,  brown  and  yellow  people  al- 
ready there,  and  the  Negro  would  no  longer  be 
disfranchised  and  held  "with  the  tongs  of  the 
law"  because  of  his  color. 

The  southern  white  man  fears  Negro  dom- 
ination, but  if  he  believed  in  fair  play  toward 


92  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

the  educated  colored  man,  and  would  seek  his 
best  interest  along  with  his  own,  there  would 
be  no  reason  to  fear  him.  This  fear  betrays  the 
weakness  of  the  white  man  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  power  of  the  Negro  on  the  other.  It  is  only 
the  sworn  enemy  of  the  colored  man  who  fears 
him.  Mr.  Jas.  K.  Vardaman,  ex-Governor  of 
Mississippi,  we  have  heard  make  a  public  con- 
fession that  he  feared  "nigger"  domination. 
He  is  the  Negro's  enemy,  notwithstanding  his 
declaration  that  he  is  the  "niggers'  best  friend." 
The  friendship  he  bears  toward  the  Negro  is 
similar  to  that  of  a  cat  toward  a  mouse.  He 
likes  to  deride,  belittle  and  damn  them;  he 
likes  to  play  with  them  to  his  heart's  content,  and 
then — "put  them  where  they  belong." 

Should  the  Japanese  obtain  control  of  the 
southern  states  these  men  will  move  out.  The 
Jap  is  as  much  of  a  "nigger"  to  these  men  as  the 
Afro-American.  In  the  Vardaman  state  Italian 
children  were  in  one  instance  debarred  from  the 
public  school  because  of  color.  They  also  were 
classed  as  "niggers,"  but  they  contested  the  claim 
to  a  black  heritage  and  were  finally  admitted 
to  a  white  school. 

A  GREAT  ARMY  OF  CHILDREN.— We 
see  with  our  mind's  eye  a  great  army  of  children 
— black,  brown  and  yellow — with  bright,  anx- 
ious, eager,  inquiring  features — thousands  of 


OR   THE   FADING    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


93 


94  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

them — distributed  all  over  this  great  Southland. 
Many  very  poor,  half-clad,  barefooted,  tramp- 
ing miles  throught  heat,  cold,  rain  and  sun — for 
what  purpose?  To  gain  that  pearl  of  great  price 
— an  education.  Their  minds  are  alert.  They 
feel,  hear  and  absorb.  Their  brain  fibre  is  re- 
fined, Casuality  and  Comparison,  the  reasoning 
faculties  of  the  mind  are  enthroned,  and  like 
a  flood  of  heavenly  light  knowledge  is  poured 
into  their  souls.  They  see  visions  of  the  future, 
when  they  can  take  an  active  part  in  the  affairs 
of  life.  They  have  ambitions  too,  and  want  to 
rise.  One  day  they  find  themselves  ready,  well 
equipped  for  their  chosen  vocations,  but  they 
hear  it:  "Stay  down  there,  you  nigger,  stay 
down!"  and  they  stay  down  a  little  longer. 

WHAT  THEN?— President  Gompers,  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor,  has  said:  "Labor 
today  stands  erect,  looking  the  world  in  the  face, 
insisting  upon  equal  treatment  and  equal  op- 
portunity, and  resenting  any  attempt  at  injustice 
or  wrong."  If  you  substitute  "the  educated 
Negro"  for  labor,  in  reading  the  above  quota- 
tion, you  have  just  what  we  wish  to  impress 
upon  your  minds.  This  is  a  paramount  fact. 
The  educated  colored  people  are  beginning  to 
quietly  resent  the  indignity  to  which  an  ignor- 
ant white  populace  often  subjects  them.  These 
whites  envy  the  Negro  an  education,  as  they  do 
those  who  by  thrift  have  accumulated  property. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  95 

SOUTHERN  WHITE  ILLITERACY.— 

In  many  parts  of  the  South  thirty-five  per  cent 
of  the  white  natives  are  illiterates.  Many  of 
them  are  semi-barbarous,  and  live  in  the  most 
degraded  and  poverty-stricken  condition  im- 
aginable. The  educated  and  prosperous  Negro 
looks  down  upon  these  helpless  creatures,  and 
believes  that  they  are  inferior  to  him,  intel- 
lectually and  socially,  which  is.  a  sad  fact. 

A  story  is  told  by  a  traveling  man  who 
crossed  the  country  from  one  city  to  another 
with  a  team  and  driver.  After  traveling  all  day 
in  a  road  torn  by  rains,  and  obstructed  by  high 
stumps  and  fallen  trees,  night  overtook  them — 
a  real  southern  night  in  the  woods.  After  los- 
ing their  road  and  bearings  they  hopelessly 
wandered  about  until  they  spied  a  light.  After 
much  trouble  they  succeeded  in  reaching  it,  and 
found  white  natives  living  there.  Could  they 
stay  over  night?  They  most  assuredly  could. 

Supper  was  prepared  for  them  in  the  fire- 
place, they  never  having  used  such  a  "new 
fangled  thing"  as  an  iron  cookstove.  The  house 
contained  two  rooms,  and  in  them  a  few  pieces 
of  homemade,  rough  furniture,  including  a  bed. 
The  travelers  were  tired  and  wondered  where 
they  could  sleep,  there  being  six  children  and 
the  parents  in  the  house.  After  supper  they 
enjoyed  a  very  interesting,  if  not  intellectual, 


96  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


A  STUDENT  IN  BROWN. 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  97 

conversation  with  the  old  folks.  They  noticed 
that  one  child  after  another  climbed  upon  the 
bed  and  fell  asleep,  and  was  then  placed  in  the 
corner  of  the  room  on  the  floor,  until  all  six 
laid  there  in  a  row.  Then  the  old  folks  retired 
to  the  next  room  and  told  their  guests  that  they 
might  now  "go  to  bed."  The  travelers  were 
tired  and  soon  fast  asleep.  In  the  morning  they 
awoke  early,  and  to  their  utter  astonishment 
they  found  themselves  lying  by  the  side  of  the 
children  on  the  floor,  while  the  old  folks  were 
snugly  "tugged  up"  in  the  only  bed  in  the  house. 
The  author  has  never  had  the  experience  of 
being  transferred  from  a  bed  to  the  floor  in  his 
sleep,  but  the  rest  of  the  story  is  a  literal  fact. 

We  take  from  the  Woman's  National  Daily, 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  the  following  timely  editorial 
under  the  head  of  "A  Story  and  a  Moral." 

"A  South  Carolina  contemporary,  in  advocat- 
ing compulsory  education  in  that  state  and  de- 
nying that  it  would  mean  Negro  domination, 
goes  out  of  his  way  to  vouch  for  a  little  story  told 
of  a  woman  who  has  spent  her  life  as  a  school 
teacher  in  that  state.  The  school  teacher  says: 
'On  my  father's  plantation  were  two  families, 
one  white  and  the  other  black,  living  as  hired 
laborers.  The  head  of  neither  family  could  read 
or  write.  Naturally,  I  tried  to  get  the  parents 
of  the  white  family  to  send  their  children  to 


98  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

school.  The  Negro  parents  sent  their  children 
to  school  voluntarily.  When  cotton  picking  time 
came,  the  weighing  and  recording  of  weights, 
even  of  the  white  family,  fell  to  one  of  the  Negro 
boys  who  had  been  taught  to  read  and  write. 
Today  that  Negro  boy,  now  a  man,  owns  land 
and  is  a  taxpayer.  Every  child  of  the  white 
family  .is  illiterate  and  not  one  owns  land.  I 
have  tried  to  get  at  least  one  of  these  white  chil- 
dren, now  a  mother,  to  send  her  children  to 
school.  She,  like  her  parents,  refuses  to  educate 
her  children,  saying  that  if  she  sent  her  girls 
to  school  the  first  fruit  would  be  love  letters  to 


some  man.' 


The  Southern  American  Weekly  (white)  says 
editorially:  "There  are  many  homes  among  the 
poor  white  people  in  the  South  today  that  con- 
tain inmates  who  are  scantily  provided  with  the 
bare  necessities  of  life.  The  children  are  with- 
out nourishing  food  and  without  proper  raiment. 
In  parts  of  the  year  not  a  few  of  our  white  people 
in  the  rural  districts  live  without  meat.  It  is 
no  unusual  thing  for  them  to  be  without  flour 
bread.  They  are  so  poor  because  they  are  so 
ignorant,  and  they  are  ignorant  because  the 
South  is  in  the  hands  of  an  oligarchy  that  has 
thought  no  more  of  the  welfare  of  the  white 
masses  than  they  have  thought  of  the  black 
people. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  » 

Did  not  the  oligarchy  defeat  the  Blair  bill 
for  national  aid  to  education?  Did  Alabama 
need  national  aid  for  education?  Let  the  fact 
that  out  of  600,000  children  of  school  age  in 
this  state  there  is  an  attendance  of  about  200,000 
in  the  public  schools,  with  an  average  duration 
for  the  year  of  102  days,  let  this  fact  make 
answer. 

It  is  a  great  political  system  to  disfranchise 
people  on  account  of  ignorance  that  the  dis- 
franchising authority  is  the  more  responsible  for 
than  is  any  one  else.  Heaven  have  mercy  on  the 
oligarchy." 

The  fact  is  evident  to  our  readers  that  the 
same  forces  in  the  South  which  endeavor  to  keep 
the  Negro  down  and  in  ignorance,  keeps  the 
poor  white  masses  down  and  in  ignorance.  The 
political  machine  is  the  master  of  the  situation. 
The  people  are  not  consulted.  In  the  same  pa- 
per quoted  above  is  the  following:  "There  Is 
no  real  populaf  government  in  the  Southern 
states  and  no  real  democracy  anywhere  in  the 
South.  We  all  know  this.  The  masses  are  now, 
and  they  have  always  been,  a  nonentity  in  the 
South. 

The  oligarchy  has  run  things  in  government 
and  in  every  other  relation  of  things  down  here. 
It  is  and  has  always  been,  in  effect,  'the  peopte 
be  damned!'  And  they  are." 


100  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

These  poor,  degraded  people  do  not  even 
realize  that  they  are  in  the  direst  kind  of  slavery, 
a  slavery  which  chains  the  soul  as  well  as  the 
body.  And  the  fact  that  they  are  white  makes 
them  more  helpless,  because  of  their  belief  in 
their  superiority  over  the  fast  advancing  Negro 
people. 

While  thousands  of  black  families  yet  live 
in  one  and  two  room  cabins,  there  are  many 
hundreds  of  white  families  living  in  precisely 
the  same  condition,  and  the  illiteracy  and  pov- 
erty is  the  same  in  both  homes.  It  is  a  pitiful 
sight  to  witness  these  white  people  in  their  pov- 
erty, especially  if  one  takes  into  consideration 
the  opportunities  and  advantages  they  have  in 
the  way  of  improving  their  condition,  if  they 
would.  The  author  has  witnessed  the  direst 
poverty  in  his  work  in  the  slums  of  Chicago,  but 
he  has  never  witnessed  anything  so  hopeless  as 
a  species  of  poverty  in  a  country  that  flows  with 
milk  and  honey. 

DARKEST  AFRICA  IN  AMERICA.— 
There  is  no  need  of  a  darkest  Africa  in  Amer- 
ica, much  less  of  a  semi-barbarous  white  peo- 
ple. The  North  and  South  spent  millions  of 
money  and  thousands  of  precious  lives  in  the  war 
of  the  rebellion,  because  of  the  presence  of  the 
Negro.  That  sacrifice  and  devastation  of  both 
sections  should  forever  be  a  warning  and  suffi- 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  101 

ciency  against  future  entangling.  Both  sections 
should,  long  ere  this,  have  made  a  more  per- 
sistent and  sweeping  effort  to  educate  the  masses 
of  both  races  in  the  South. 

Dr.  John  W.  Abercrombie,  president  of  the 
University  of  Alabama,  a  southern  gentleman  of 
broad,  liberal  and  philanthropic  views,  deliv- 
ered a  lecture  at  the  Citronelle,  Alabama  Chau- 
tauqua,  in  1909,  on  "Lawlessness — Its  Cause  and 
Cure."  He  emphasized  the  fact  that  the  South 
must  educate  its  white  and  colored  children  alike 
in  the  true  principles  of  citizenship.  He  con- 
demned, in  the  strongest  terms,  the  present  lynch- 
ing evil.  He  said  that  many  times  a  Negro  is 
lynched  for  no  other  crime  than  that  he  was 
black.  He  said  that  the  schoolhouse  was  the 
only  avenue  through  which  a  better  feeling  be- 
tween the  races  might  be  brought  about.  He 
contended  that  the  teachers  in  both  the  white 
and  colored  schools  of  the  South  should  inspire 
in  the  children  a  true  regard  for  each  other.  The 
wrong  influence  at  home,  he  believed,  was  re- 
sponsible for  a  great  deal  of  the  race  trouble 
and  prejudice.  He  said  the  South  was  too  poor 
at  present  to  educate  all  its  children.  To  tax 
the  people  for  sufficient  money  to  run  the  schools 
would  be  like  confiscating  their  property.  Under 
these  conditions  he  believed  the  whites  should  be 
educated  first,  and  educated  right.  If  the  whites 


102  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

received  the  right  kind  of  education  they  would 
educate  the  Negro  in  turn.  Since  the  South  was 
ruined  through  the  war,  and  left  with  millions 
of  ignorant  Negroes  on  their  hands,  he  believed 
that  the  government  ought  to  appropriate  at 
least  three  and  one-half  million  dollars  per  an- 
num for  the  education  of  the  masses  in  the  South. 

We  quote  this  gentleman  because  he  has  looked 
deeply  into  this  matter,  and  his  judgment  is 
worth  a  hundred  Tillman's  and  Vardaman's  on 
the  race  question.  He  does  not  need  to  tell  his 
audience  that  he  is  the  "best  friend  the  nigger 
ever  had,"  as  ex-Governor  Vardaman  did  a  few 
days  later  on  the  same  platform.  His  presence 
and  manner  of  address  is  sufficient  to  convince 
his  hearers  that  he  has  at  heart  the  best  interest 
of  his  brother  in  black.  Would  to  God  that  the 
South  had  many  more  such  men,  brave  enough 
and  wise  enough  to  tell  the  truth. 

Dr.  Abercrombie  does  not  deny  the  fact,  as 
does  Vardaman  and  others  of  his  school,  that  the 
Negro  can  be  educated.  Why  has  the  govern- 
ment forced  the  guardianship  of  these  people 
upon  the  shoulders  of  their  unwilling  former 
masters  without  a  provision  or  recompense? 
After  the  South  was  completely  wrecked  and  im- 
poverished, the  government  left  these  unfor- 
tunate ex-slaves  in  the  hands  of  their  unfor- 
tunate ex-masters.  These  ex-masters,  for  the 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  103 

most  part,  did  not  believe  in  the  education  of 
the  Negro,  neither  do  their  children  today.  For 
some  unknown  reason  they  fear  an  "educated 
nigger."  Enforced  guardianship,  under  these 
conditions,  is  nothing  sweet  to  contemplate. 
There  could  be  little  love  reciprocated  between 
the  ex-slave  and  ex-master,  and  it  is  a  wonder, 
indeed,  that  any  existed  between  them.  And  to 
look  at  the  more  practical  side  of  this  question — 
what  could  the  southern  people  do,  when  pov- 
erty stalked  in  their  midst  in  all  its  ghastly  real- 
ity? Was  it  their  business  to  build  schoolhouses 
and  hire  teachers  to  educate  the  emancipated 
slave,  whom  they  believed  could  not  be  educat- 
ed? That  part  rightfully  belonged  to  the  gov- 
ernment who  freed  them,  and  that  government 
should  be  held  responsible  for  all  the  semi-bar- 
barism and  illiteracy  of  these  people.  It  is  true, 
some  spasmodic  attempts  were  made,  as  in  the 
passage  of  the  Freedman's  Bureau  bill,  but  the 
tremendous  task  of  educating  four  and  one-half 
million  people  in  a  poverty-stricken  country  de 
manded  a  thorough  system  of  warfare  against  ig- 
norance and  superstition.  If  the  government  had 
established  5000  small  industrial  schools  through- 
out the  South,  say,  thirty-five  years  ago,  and  had 
conducted  them  under  strict  governmental  super- 
vision (for  whites  and  blacks  alike),  there  would 
be  no  darkest  South  today,  and  no  undue  preju- 


104  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

dice  to  contend  with  among  those  people,  who 
have  been  educated  apart,  if  educated  at  all, 
to  hate  each  other  in  that  bitterness  born  of  illit- 
eracy and  racial  differences.  Above  all,  both 
races  should  have  been  taught  how  to  cultivate 
the  soil  profitably,  how  to  build  up  their  homes 
—in  short,  how  to  become  prosperous.  All  the 
intensive  farming,  along  scientific  lines  in  the 
South  today,  is  the  result  of  northern  energy 
and  intelligence.  If  it  were  not  for  the  energy 
and  money  of  the  northerner  in  the  South  at  the 
present  time,  there  would  be  fifty  per  cent  more 
poverty  and  illiteracy.  These  schools  we  have 
mentioned  would  have  brought  the  government 
and  the  southern  people  together,  where,  as  now, 
they  stand  apart,  and  there  is  no  love  between 
the  North  and  South;  no  united  interest  for  the 
good  of  all,  and  the  elevation  and  the  education 
of  the  Negro  as  well  as  the  poor  whites.  On 
the  other  hand,  these  schools  would  have  brought 
prosperity  and  independence,  because  of  the  in- 
creased efficiency  of  labor,  and  this,  in  turn, 
would  have  brought  about  a  better  feeling  be- 
tween the  races.  Nearly  all  the  prejudice  among 
the  northern  people  who  have  settled  in  the 
South,  against  the  Negro,  is  due  to  the  fact,  it  is 
said,  that  he  is  shiftless  and  incompetent  as  a 
laborer,  and  this,  as  some  believe,  is  not  because 
he  wants  to  be  thus,  but  more  often  because  he 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  105 

does  not  know  how  to  labor  for  the  interest  of 
his  employer.  Among  themselves  they  have 
created  the  impression  that  they  must  labor  for 
the  money  there  is  in  it,  and  not  for  the  higher 
purpose  of  becoming  experts  in  their  calling. 
We  have  noticed  very  often  that  those  who  take 
an  interest  in  their  work,  and  do  it  well  when 
laboring  for  a  northern  man,  are  not  only  re- 
spected and  their  race  benefited,  but  they  may 
also  soon  demand  better  wages.  The  northern 
man  has  no  use  for  shiftless  labor,  and  will  not 
tolerate  it,  in  the  kitchen,  on  the  farm  or  in  the 
shop,  and  the  Negro  is  making  a  fearful  mistake 
if  he  attempts  to  try  it.  The  reason  we  believe 
the  work  Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington  and  others 
are  doing  is  a  great  one  in  the  uplift  of  the  race, 
is  because  educated  labor  and  efficient  service 
means  respect,  confidence,  unity  and  equal  priv- 
ileges when  it  has  been  fully  established.  It  is 
the  forerunner  of  future  wealth  and  independ- 
ence. 

The  thought  must  also  occur  to  us  here,  that 
if  the  government  had  provided  for  the  guard- 
ianship and  education  of  the  Negro,  right  after 
the  war,  and  had  then  given  him  full  political 
rights,  and  not  before,  the  South  would  have 
found  little  reason  to  kick  against  the  political 
and  social  rights  of  these  people  in  a  later  day. 
No  man,  of  whatever  race  or  color,  should  be 


106  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

granted  a  full  citizenship  in  the  United  States 
of  America  before  he  can  read  and  write  and  is 
familiar  with  our  form  of  government.  Most 
of  our  political  corruption  is  caused  by  the  per- 
nicious influence  wrought  upon  the  illiterate  by 
the  professional  politician  and  office  seeker. 

INEQUALITY  AND  EDUCATION  A 
TRANSPARENT  DOCTRINE.— As  long  as 
a  great  mass  of  Negro  population  is  illiterate 
there  can  be  no  political,  industrial  or  social 
equality.  While  illiteracy  among  the  whites 
may  be  overlooked,  among  the  Negro  people 
it  will  never  be  overlooked.  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington and  his  colleagues  advocate  industrial 
equality.  That  our  readers  may  more  fully 
understand  what  they  mean  by  this  we  quote 
from  a  book,  "The  Colored  American  from 
Slavery  to  Honorable  Citizenship,"  in  which 
Prof.  J.  W.  Gibson  (white),.  Prof.  Booker  T. 
Washington,  and  Prof.  W.  H.  Crogman  (col- 
ored), appear  as  the  authors:  "Does  Not  Crave 
Domination,  But  Equality." — (Page  190.)  "The 
Negro  craves  not  domination.  He  simply  asks 
for  equalization  of  rights  and  privileges,  such 
as  belong  to  American  citizens  under  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  land.  As  an  American  citizen 
he  cannot  ask  less  nor  be  contented  with  less." 

The  educated  class,  which  embraces  the  mu- 
latto and  all  others  of  African  descent,  will  never 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  107 

be  satisfied  with  anything  less  than  equal  oppor- 
tunity with  every  other  citizen  of  the  white  race. 
And  why  should  it  be?  As  we  so  often  repeat 
in  this  book,  the  bluest  blood  that  ever  landed  in 
this  country,  of  both  the  black  and  white  races, 
flows  in  their  veins.  And  as  the  lower  element 
becomes  more  educated  and  mixed  with  this 
higher  class,  it  will  make  the  same  claim,  and 
demand  the  same  rights. 

If  we  look  but  a  few  centuries  back  into  Euro- 
pean history,  we  find  that  the  great  mass  of 
people  came  through  the  same  identical  process 
of  evolution  there.  The  only  difference  is  that 
the  dominant  white  politician  in  the  South  is 
the  feudal  lord  and  the  poor  white  and  colored 
citizen  the  serf.  The  author's  great  grandfather 
witnessed,  in  his  day,  the  tying  to  the  stake  of 
the  serf  and  the  whipping  of  him  by  the  lord,  in 
that  country  of  giant  intellects — Germany.  To- 
day— what  a  marvelous  change!  The  children 
of  the  colored  people  have  a  better  opportunity 
to  obtain  an  education  in  the  states  today  than 
had  the  poor  children  of  Germany  and  other 
European  countries  a  generation  or  two  ago. 

There  is  little  sense  in  the  cry  that  the  Negro 
wants  social  equality.  There  is  no  such  a  thing 
in  existence  in  America  as  social  equality  among 
the  whites,  why,  then,  should  it  be  feared  be- 
tween the  two  races?  There  are  lines  drawn  be- 


108  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

tween  the  laboring  man  and  professional  manr 
the  professional  and  moneyed  man,  the  rich  and 
poor,  the  high  and  low,  the  aristocrat  and  la- 
borer. The  various  classes  are  pitted  against 
each  other  and  do  not  live  for  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  each  other.  The  American  people 
are  too  self-centered  and  voracious  at  the  pres- 
ent time  to  allow  any  altruistic  sentiments  to 
unite  the  various  classes.  Society  is  just  as  much 
shocked  when  it  finds  the  daughter  of  an  aristo- 
crat in  the  company  of  a  young  laboring  man, 
as  it  is  when  it  finds  the  daughter  of  a  laborer 
in  the  society  of  a  decent  colored  man.  The 
verdict  invariably  is  that  these  girls  have 
"thrown  themselves  away."  Whereas,  if  they 
marry  a  worthless  bummer  of  their  own  class 
it  is  taken  as  a  matter  of  course. 

Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington  and  other  prom- 
inent men  and  women  of  "the  Negro  race  have 
been  entertained  by  white  men  and  women  who 
would  not  think  of  entertaining  a  farmer,  a  cross- 
road storekeeper  or  a  white  servant  girl.  When 
it  comes  to  worth,  ability,  education,  the  color 
line  must  necessarily  vanish  among  people  of 
culture  and  true  ethics.  And  in  the  business 
world  the  selfishness  of  the  American  people — 
the  love  of  money — will,  in  time  obliterate  the 
color  line.  A  prominent  Negro,  Mr.  J.  H.  Lewis, 
has  well  said  that  the  business  world  knows  noth- 


OR  TUE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  109 

ing  of  color,  that  human  selfishness,  the  desire 
of  every  man  to  get  money,  would  eventually 
banish  prejudice.  That  the  almighty  dollar  is 
thoroughly  color  blind.  That  money  commands 
respect.  "Rare,"  says  he,  "is  the  merchant  or 
manufacturer  who  will  refuse  to  shake  hands 
with  a  hundred  thousand  dollars." 

While  it  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  money  is 
the  supreme  god  of  the  American  people,  and 
that  it  will  cover  a  multitude  of  sins,  yet  talents, 
education,  worth,  will  not  long  go  begging 
among  a  great  people.  True  talent  and  persist- 
ence of  effort  has  always  been  recognized,  sooner 
or  later;  and  the  American  people  are,  after  all, 
too  great  not  to  let  justice  triumph  over  wrong 
in  a  final  decision.  When  a  president  of  these 
United  States  can  dine  with  a  prominent  mem- 
ber of  the  Negro  racer  it  is  not  likely  that  a  com- 
mon citizen  will  in  time  find  it  a  disgrace  to 
associate,  on  common  ground,  with  the  respect- 
able class  of  colored  people. 

When  education  and  love  enters,  the  vile  devil 
of  inequality  and  prejudice  must  flee.  Only 
among  the  narrow  and  selfish  can  he  find  an 
abiding  place.  We  mean  the  right  kind  of  edu- 
cation, of  the  heart,  the  head,  the  soul.  Of  wrong 
education  we  have  a  plenty.  It  has  already 
caused  the  foul  spirit  of  anarchy  to  infest  the 
hearts  and  arouse  the  lower  faculties  of  the  mind 


110  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

to  dark  plots  and  evil  deeds.  We  want  the  spirit 
of  Universal  Brotherhood  inculcated  in  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  the  American  people.  We 
want  it  taught  to  every  child — preached  to  every 
man  and  woman  in  the  land.  We  feel  that  this 
"land  of  the  free  and  home  of  the  brave"  will 
be  torn  asunder,  limb  by  limb;  will  lay  prostrate 
in  the  dust,  bleeding,  dying,  in  the  most  terrible 
slaughter  on  man's  record,  unless  prejudice  is 
obliterated  between  the  races  in  our  midst.  A 
trained  mind  cannot  submit  to  social  inferiority. 

WHAT  JAPANESE  THINK  OF  IT.- 
The  following  is  what  Kaju  Nakamura,  editor 
of  the  Japanese-American  Commercial  Weekly, 
said  of  the  Japanese  situation: 

"Of  the  several  reasons  assigned  by  the  people 
of  California  for  their  hostility  to  the  Japanese, 
the  only  one  that  is  real  is  race  prejudice,  which, 
strange  to  say,  I  have  found  stronger  in  this 
country — this  land  of  the  free — than  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  It  is,  I  believe,  this  race 
prejudice,  this  most  horrible  of  all  diseases  of 
the  human  mind,  that  is  responsible  for  these  at- 
tacks upon  the  Japanese.  God,  or  whatever  you 
may  believe  to  be  supreme,  made  us,  and  He 
never  drew  lines  between  each  race,  one  race  to 
be  superior  over  the  others ;  nor  did  He  teach  one 
race  to  despise  others,  but  He  colored  each  to 
as  to  best  suit  the  climate  of  his  abode. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  111 

Negroes,  Chinese,  Japanese,  feel  hunger, 
pain,  gladness  or  shame  just  as  much  as  Cau- 
casians feel  them.  One  has  blood  that  runs  as 
warm  as  the  other.  They  love  their  friends, 
hate  their  enemies,  and  they  cry  when  sad,  just 
as  other  people  do.  We  Japanese  are  human,  you 
Americans  are  human.  Opportunity  may  have 
done  more  for  one  than  for  the  other,  but  at  the 
root  of  things  we  are  all  alike.  Could  that  one 
thought  be  impressed  on  those  who  are  most 
loudly  crying  out  against  the  Japanese  today,  I 
believe  that  the  Japanese  question,  if  there  be 
one,  would  disappear  like  fog  before  the  sun." 

It  is  an  open  question  before  the  thinking 
white  citizens  of  these  States:  Shall  America 
go  down  in  history  as  the  race  hating  nation  of 
the  world,  persecuting  and  trampling  upon  every 
race,  regardless  of  their  ability  or  worth,  if  their 
skin  be  colored? 


112  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


CHAPTER   V 

THE  COLOR  LINE 

DO  NOT  CHAMPION  THE  NEGRO 
AT  THE  EXPENSE  OF  SOUTHERN 
WHITES. — We  revolt  against  the  task  of  en- 
larging upon  the  color  line  subject,  and  would 
gladly  refrain  from  discussing  it  in  these  pages 
if  we  could  attain  the  object  in  view  in  any  other 
way.  But  it  is  apparent  that  our  work  would 
be  in  vain  did  we  not  expound,  in  unmistakable 
language,  the  existing  .relations  between  the 
white  and  colored  people.  In  discussing  these 
existing  conditions,  we  do  not  wish  to  convey  the 
idea  that  we  are  blind  to  and  do  not  respect  the 
position  of  the  Southern  people  in  this  regard. 
Furthermore,  we  do  not  wish  to  impress  the 
reader  with  the  idea  that  we  are  championing 
the  cause  of  the  American  Negro  at  the  expense 
of  the  Southern  whites.  We  wish  to  say  that  we 
really  champion  nobody.  Our  only  aim  is,  as 
we  say  in  our  introduction,  to  lay  bare  this  social 
cancer,  that  we  may  treat  it  with  scientific  cer- 
tainty. We  love  the  country  of  our  adoption  and 
the  people  thereof.  A  true  Southerner  is  an  un- 
prejudiced, warm-hearted,  kindly  gentleman, 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  113 

and  to  know  him  thoroughly  is  to  love  him.  We 
have  no  fear  that  he  will  take  unkindly  to  what 
we  say,  though  he  may  not  see  just  at  present  how 
the  reforms  advocated  in  this  book  can  be  suc- 
cessfully applied. 

HARD  THINGS  HURLED  AT 
NEGROES'  FRIENDS.— We  also  wish  to  re- 
mind our  Southern  brother  that  from  time  to 
time  very,  very  hard  things  are  hurled  at  some 
Northern  and  other  friends  of  the  Negro,  who 
unfortunately  step  across  the  color  line  they  do 
not  discern  with  that  inbred  acuteness  of  the 
Southern  gentleman.  This  the  beloved  and  la- 
mented Bishop  Potter  did  at  Richmond  before 
his  death.  The  luncheon  he  took  with  a  fellow 
colored  bishop  at  that  time  was  repeatedly 
vomited  up  by  the  Southern  press.  It  is  our  ob- 
ject to  throw  before  you,  as  a  fit  illustration,  a 
bit  of  this  vomit  at  this  time,  as  Bishop  Potter 
was  a  prominent  Christian  character,  and  his 
position  was  a  notable  one.  And  in  referring  to 
this  and  like  instances,  it  matters  little  whether 
they  took  place  yesterday  or  ten  years  ago;  the 
same  class  of  men  hold  precisely  the  same  view 
in  regard  to  the  Negro  of  today,  they  or  their  fa- 
thers held  forty  years  and  more  ago.  This  is  evi- 
dence that  there  has  been  no  change  of  sentiment 
or  change  of  heart  in  the  children  of  former 
slave-holders. 


114  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

A     HIGHLY -CENSURABLE    ACT.  - 

(From  Lynchburg  News.)  "Bishop  and  Mrs. 
Potter,  of  New  York,  who  are  occupying  the 
residence  at  600  West  Franklin  street,  Rich- 
mond, during  the  general  convention  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  this  evening  enter- 
tained at  luncheon  Bishop  Ferguson,  of  Africa, 
the  only  Negro  entitled  to  a  seat  in  the  house  of 
bishops.  This  from  our  Richmond  advices  yes- 
terday. Thus  has  Bishop  Potter  flaunted  odious 
insult  to  the  Southern  people  before  the  world's 
vision.  He  has  done  this  quite  deliberately, 
quite  flagrantly  and  with  a  degree  of  callous  in- 
solence that  absolutely  startles  and  bewilders. 
This  New  York  Bishop  is  no  mental  incompe- 
tent. He  is  no  ill-informed  man.  He  is  in  no  posi- 
tion to  claim  ignorance  of  social  conditions  in  the 
South.  He  knows,  and  knew  very  well,  the  way 
by  and  through  which  he  could  offend  the  people 
of  this  section,  wound  their  sensibilities,  arouse 
their  indignant  protest.  He  knew  no  surer 
means  was  at  hand  to  accomplish  this  end  than 
by  preaching  social  equality  between  the  races, 
or  worse  still,  by  overt  act  show  that  he  embraces 
the  hated  doctrine.  And  yet  knowing  all  this, 
he  has  consciously  resorted  to  a  procedure  that 
was  unnecessary;  that  was  brought  about  by  the 
bishop's  own  deliberate  volition,  and  for  which 
appears  no  sort  of  reasonable  excuse  or  explana- 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  115 

tion.  This  Bishop  Potter  did  while  in  the  South, 
while  the  guest  of  a  Southern  city  and  in  a  resi- 
dence of  that  city,  temporarily  leased  by  him — 
temporarily  leased  from  a  Richmond  citizen, 
who  would  doubtless  regard  the  act  of  a  lessee  in 
entertaining  a  Negro  at  his  dining  board,  as 
much  an  act  of  social  vandalism  as  he  would  es- 
teem it  an  act  of  physical  vandalism  had  Bishop 
Potter  smashed  the  doors  of  his  residence  and 
shattered  its  windows.  This  he  did,  knowing  that 
as  a  result  human  bitterness  would  be  engen- 
dered, seeds  of  trouble  and  contention  sown 
which,  in  due  season,  might  produce  results  cal- 
culated to  rend  in  twain  the  great  Episcopal 
Church  of  America.  *  *  *  When  Bishop  Potter 
in  Richmond  gave  an  offensive  object  lesson  of 
his  belief  in  social  equality  between  the  races,  he 
has  become  a  breeder  of  resentment  between 
men;  a  feeder  to  race  estrangement,  an  agitator 
of  angry  passions.  Is  Bishop  Potter  consistent 
in  his  belief  upon  this  social  equality  question, 
we  wonder?  Is  he  sincere?  If  so,  he  ought  not 
to  oppose  its  application,  even  though  it  should 
knock  at  the  door  of  his  own  home  in  New  York 
and  thrust  its  presence  and  philosophy  among 
the  members  of  his  own  family.  Would  he  say 
it  nay  should  it  thus  come  to  him  and  his — this 
doctrine  which  he  practiced  in  Richmond  on 
Friday?  We  wonder;  aye,  we  wonder,  indeed. 


116  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

The  writer  of  this  editorial  was  reared  in  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  for  more  than  twenty 
years  has  been  identified  with  its  membership. 
This  being  the  case,  he  has  viewed  with  no  lit- 
tle anxiety  the  discussion  and  actions  of  the  pres- 
ent convention  in  regard  to  the  race  question. 
Present  signs,  we  submit,  point  to  breakers 
ahead  for  American  episcopacy.  The  church 
must  recognize  the  South's  demands  upon  the 
race  question,  and  engraft  acceptation  thereof 
upon  its  polity,  or  invite  endless  trouble.  The 
separation  of  the  races  in  church  matters,  and 
separate  conventions  for  the  white  and  Negroes 
—these  things  in  the  end  will  prove  the  only 
efficacious  solution  of  the  existing  problem. 
Bishop  Potter  has  aided  in  hastening  the  crisis, 
when  clear,  definite,  decisive  action  will  be  re- 
quired. If  he  and  men  with  his  views  are  to 
prevail  upon  the  issue  joined,  then  a  Northern 
episcopacy^  and  a  Southern  episcopacy  will 
evolve  from  a  now  united  church.  No  compro- 
mise upon  the  question  can  live.  Either  the 
South's  view  must  be  maintained  or  division 
must  ensue.  Between  these  alternatives  the 
church  will,  before  many  years,  be  compelled 
to  choose,  unfortunate  and  unhappy  as  be  the 
consequences." 

WOULD     DENOUNCE    JESUS. —  The 
writer  of  the  above  editorial  says  that  he  has 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  117 

been  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church  for 
twenty  years.  We  respect  him  for  his  honesty, 
for  he  does  not  pretend  to  say  that  he  has  been 
a  Christian  for  that  length  of  time.  An  intelli- 
gent Christian  could  not  and  would  not  disgrace 
himself  and  the  South  in  the  use  of  such 
scathing  language  toward  the  bishop  of  his 
church  for  the  performance  of  a  noble  Christian 
duty.  If  Jesus  of  Nazareth  would  appear  and 
sit  down  to  sup  with  a  colored  bishop  of  His 
church,  the  same  class  of  men  in  the  South  who 
denounce  such  men  as  Bishop  Potter  was,  would 
denounce  Him.  And  where  can  we  find  a  true 
Christian  who  does  not  feel  in  his  heart  that 
Jesus  Christ,  the  reputed  Son  of  God,  confessed 
no  recognition  of  a  color  line?  Who  dares  say 
that  he  did,  in  this  late  day?  By  His  Father  in 
heaven  all  men  were  created  free  and  equal, 
man's  depravity  alone  has  wrought  inequality. 
The  earth  out  of  which  the  writer  of  the  above 
editorial  and  his  like  are  formed,  was  taken  from 
the  same  heap  out  of  which  the  humblest  Negro 
in  the  South  was  made,  and  both  will  return  to 
it  when  they  die.  Where  is  your  color  line  there? 
And  should  the  writer  of  the  above  article  re- 
pent and  be  saved,  and  he  and  the  humble  Negro 
die  together,  they  would  together  knock  at  the 
door  of  heaven,  and  St.  Peter  would  open  and 
let  them  both  in.  Where  is  your  color  line  there? 


118  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

This  is  the  humble  but  fundamental  doctrine 
of  the  true  Christian  faith,  is  it  not?  To  bring 
out  this  fact  to  our  readers,  we  have  chosen  this 
appropriate  incident  relative  to  Bishop  Potter. 
This  and  many  other  similar  incidents  show  the 
reader  that  many  southern  whites,  who,  for  the 
most  part  claim  to  be  an  intensely  religious  people, 
have  even  drawn  a  sharp  color  line  in  religion. 
A  smart  colored  woman  told  the  author  that  she 
asked  a  southern  white  lady  whether  the  colored 
folks  would  be  like  the  white  people  in  heaven. 
"No,"  she  answered,  "they  will  be  servants  of 
the  white  people  there  the  same  as  they  are  here." 
The  author,  too,  has  heard  this  same  statement 
more  than  once  from  the  lips  of  very  pious 
southerners.  So,  while  it  is  now  admitted  that 
the  Negro  may  have  a  soul,  he  is  eternally 
doomed  to  serve  the  southern  white  people  in 
heaven.  We  think  it  very  kind  of  the  southern 
Christian  theologian  to  give  his  black  brother 
and  sister,  and  his  colored  offspring,  a  chance 
to  at  least  enter  heaven  as  a  servant.  It  is  better 
to  get  there  as  a  servant  than  not  to  get  there 
at  all. 

THE  FIFTEENTH  AMENDMENT.- 
"But,"  they  say,  "you  don't  understand.  The  'nig- 
ger' must  be  kept  down."  Let  us  see.  Here  we 
have  it:  "I  favor  unqualifiedly  and  without  re- 
serve the  abrogation  of  the  Fifteenth  Amend- 


OR   THE   FADING    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  119 

ment  of  the  Constitution,  and  it  is  my  hope 
through  the  United  States  Senate,  to  demonstrate 
to  the  nation  that  there  is  only  one  practical  way 
of  settling  this  matter,  and  that  is  by  plainly 
showing  the  Negro  his  proper  place  in  our  sys- 
tem of  government.  The  race  question  must  be 
settled,  and  that  soon.  It  cannot  be  disposed 
of,  however,  until  the  nation  as  a  whole  has 
been  convinced  that  there  is  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  white  and  the  black. 

GAP  JUST  AS  WIDE  BETWEEN 
NEGRO  AND  WHITE.— "The  laws  now 
specifically  recognize  the  difference  between  the 
white  man  and  the  Indian,  the  Chinaman,  Es- 
quimo  or  the  Malay.  There  is  just  as  wide  a  gap 
between  the  white  man  and  the  Negro.* 

The  Negroes  of  the  South  are  becoming  more 
criminal  every  day.  Notwithstanding  the  mil- 
lions of  dollars  we  have  spent  in  attempting  to 
educate  them,  they  are  becoming  more  disre- 
spectful of  law  and  more  animal  like  in  their 
characters  and  desires.  *  *  *  The  abrogation  of 
the  Fifteenth  Amendment  will  place  the  Negro 
where  he  belongs.  *  *  *  If  I  get  to  the  Senate 
there  will  be  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  the  en- 
tire nation.  The  North  will  know  what  the 
South  already  knows,  that  the  climax  is  at  hand. 
It  will  come  to  appreciate  that  Thomas  Jeffer- 

*See  Chapter  XIV,  "Where  Indians  and  whites  marry." 


120  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

son  was  not  speaking  of  the  Negro  when  he 
said  that  all  men  were  created  free  and  equal. 
He  knew  that  the  Negro  was  a  mere  chattel. 

*  *  The  crisis  is  nearly  due.  The  matter  of 
white  supremacy  or  black  domination  in  the 
South  is  at  fever  heat,  and  the  sooner  the  North 
and  West  realize  it  the  better  it  will  be  for  the 
nation." — Ex-Governor  Vardaman  of  Missis- 
sippi. 

The  southern  whites  fear  "black  domination," 
but  it  is  really  the  domination  of  their  colored 
progeny,  backed  by  the  black,  that  they  fear. 
Let  readers  remember  this  fact. 

INDIANS  AND  NEGROES  VOTE.— We 
think  we  now  understand.  ( ?)  But  the  argument 
that  the  laws  now  specifically  recognize  the  dif- 
ference between  the  Indian  and  the  white  man, 
is,  we  fear,  at  least  a  weak  one,  so  far  as  Okla- 
homa is  concerned,  which  has  become  a  state 
since  the  above  was  first  spoken.  Oklahoma  has 
a  full  suffrage  clause  in  its  constitution,  covering 
every  man,  white,  red,  yellow  and  black.  The  con- 
stitution w,as  adopted  by  a  majority  of  109,000. 
The  vote  against  it  was  75,000.  The  Indian 
population  of  the  state  is  the  largest  in  the  Union, 
being  75,000,  of  .these  about  15,000  are  voters. 

TILLMAN  DOES  NOT  WANT  THE 
NEGRO'S  HEEL  ON  HIS  NECK.— (From 
a  cpeech  in  the  senate)  "I  am  not  opposed  to 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  131 

Negro  education  at  all,  provided  it  is  of  the 
right  kind,  knowing  that  education  increases  in- 
telligence and  intelligence  increases  the  useful- 
ness of  the  citizens.  What  I  said  and  meant  and 
by  which  I  stick  is  this:  That  the  Republican 
policy  of  the  last  forty  years  has  been  to  compel 
the  South  to  recognize  the  political  equality  of 
the  Negro.  That  in  its  essence  would  mean  the 
domination  of  the  Negro  in  South  Carolina  and 
Mississippi  and  many  parts  of  other  southern 
states.  We  have  disfranchised  every  Negro  we 
could  under  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  and  the 
only  instrumentality  available  was  to  require  an 
educational  qualification.  There  is  now  an  agi- 
tation in  South  Carolina  for  compulsory  educa- 
tion. That  would  mean  a  heavy  burden  to  pro- 
vide more  schools  which  the  white  tax  payers 
would  have  to  bear,  and  there  could  be  no  dis- 
crimination against  the  Negro  on  account  of 
race  or  color.  (He  does  not  believe  that  labor 
produces  wealth  and  pays  taxes).  Hence  we 
would  present  the  spectacle  of  educating  the 
Negro  at  a  very  heavy  expense  to  hurry  forward 
the  contest  for  supremacy  between  the  two  races, 
as  soon  as  we  should  have  given  them  the  neces- 
sary qualifications  to  vote,  and  be  undoing  what 
we  found  absolutely  necessary  to  preserve  our 
civilization.  We  never  intend  to  be  governed 
by  Negroes,  whether  educated  or  uneducated. 


122 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


ANTI-NEGRO  PHILOSOPHER. 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  123 

The  Republican  party  is  now  seeking  to  debauch 
the  South  through  Mr.  Taft,  who  offers  us  two 
offices  in  every  thousand  of  our  population  and 
a  pretended  advancement  of  our  material  inter- 
ests to  join  that  party.  If  the  Republicans  will 
throw  down  and  abandon,  once  for  all,  their  ef- 
forts to  compel  the  South  to  recognize  the  joint 
equality  of  the  Caucasian  and  African  by  re- 
pealing the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  we  can  then 
have  the  control  of  our  state  affairs,  and  can  then 
train  them  to  make  better  citizens  and  aid  in  that 
'uplift'  which  Mr.  Taft  is  so  anxious  to  see 
brought  about.  But  we  never  expect  to  'lift' 
them  high  enough  ourselves,  and  allow  anybody 
else  to  lift  them  high  enough  to  put  their  heels 
on  our  necks  or  govern  us  again,  and  the  conflict 
of  the  races,  which  seems  to  me  inevitable,  will 
only  be  hastened  by  such  talk  as  Mr.  Taft  in- 
dulges in." 

COLOR  LINE  IN  POLITICS.— An  edi- 
torial appeared  in  the  Mobile  Register,  referring 
to  the  famous  Dr.  Crum  case,  that  caused  so 
much  debate  in  the  United  States  senate.  Here 
is  fully  expressed  the  South's  idea  of  color  in 
politics.  It  matters  little  how  competent  and 
faithful  a  man  may  be  in  the  performance  of 
his  duty,  if  he  has  a  trace  of  Negro  blood  in  his 
veins  he  cannot  "properly  represent  the  govern- 
ment." The  editorial  is  as  follows:  "The  rule 
in  the  appointment  of  men  to  federal  office 


124  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

should  be:  to  appoint  that  person  only  who  by 
common  report  is  of  such  standing  that  the  peo- 
ple might,  if  they  were  called  on,  elect  such  per- 
son to  the  designated  office.  Where  it  is  well 
known  that  by  no  possible  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances such  persons  would  be  chosen  by 
the  community  the  appointment  should  not  be 
made  or  even  thought  of.  Under  this  rule,  no 
colored  man  would  be  placed  in  an  important 
public  office  in  the  South,  such  as  the  collector- 
ship  of  a  port,  as  was  done  in  Charleston.  The 
collector  is  not  simply  a  clerk  of  the  government, 
to  receive  and  be  responsible  for  revenues  of  the 
port;  he  is  also  a  representative  of  the  govern- 
ment, and,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  ought  to  as- 
sume and  be  accorded  a  high  position,  officially, 
commercially  and  socially.  Whatever  are  the 
qualities  of  Dr.  Crum,  the  collector  of  Charles- 
ton, or  his  ability  to  care  for  the  collection  and 
delivery  of  the  revenues,  and  even  to  look  after 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  port,  it  must  be 
admitted  that,  by  reason  of  his  color,  he  cannot 
associate  on  equal  terms  'with  the  business  men 
of  the  community,  and  is  wholly  cut  off  from  the 
exercise  of  all  social  functions  whatever.  He 
does  not,  therefore,  properly  represent  the  gov- 
ernment, and  the  government  is  without  a  repre- 
sentative in  Charleston,  except  in  the  limited 
sense  that  it  has  there  a  curator  of  its  revenues. 
The  protest  of  the  Charleston  people  has  been 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  125 

steadfastly  presented  to  the  attention  of  the  presi- 
dent (Mr.  Roosevelt),  but  to  him  it  appears  to 
be  the  product  of  racial  prejudice,  and,  accord- 
ingly, not  worthy  of  being  heeded.  If  the  presi- 
dent could  entertain  the  hope  that,  by  persistence 
in  keeping  Dr.  Crum  in  the  position  of  collector, 
he  could  overcome  the  opposition  and  obtain 
for  Dr.  Crum  the  recognition  every  collector 
should  have,  there  might  be  some  sense  in  per- 
sistence; but  the  president  has  no  such  hope. 
The  mental  habit  of  the  'white  community  is  not 
going  to  change,  even  though  a  thousand  Crums 
are  appointed  to  office.  The  senate  has  the  power 
of  rejecting  the  re-appointment  of  Dr.  Crum, 
and,  it  is  reported,  will  reject  it.  In  so  doing  it 
will  be  of  good  service,  for  the  appointee  does 
not  possess  all  the  qualifications  for  the  office, 
and  ought  not  to  hold  the  office." 

THEY  RUB  IN  THE  COLOR  LINE.— 
We  are  conscious  of  the  fact  that  there  are  men 
throughout  the  South  today  who  take  advantage 
of  every  opportunity  to  rub  in  the  color  line  sub- 
ject. Such  men  as  Senator  Tillman,  for  instance, 
have  made  it  a  paying  business  to  lecture  on  the 
race  question;  or,  to  be  more  explicit,  "rave  on 
it."  This  class,  as  we  intimate  elsewhere,  that 
does  not  even  spare  a  bishop  in  the  exercise  of 
his  private  rights,  does  not  represent  the  true 
sentiment  of  any  country  or  any  people.  They 
are  the  remnant  of  a  defunct  aristocracy,  or  their 


126  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

on-hangers,  and  die  hard.  They  are  a  set  of 
blatant,  blasphemous  anarchists  who  inflame  the 
hearts  of  an  ignorant,  self-conceited  southern 
populace  to  mob  violence  and  hellish  crimes 
against  a  poor,  defenseless  people,  who  have  been 
kicked  and  cuffed  and  tongue-lashed  by  these 
crack-brained  enemies  of  our  free  institutions 
and  Republican  form  of  government,  without 
a  blush  of  shame.  They  never  will  submit  to 
the  changing  conditions,  or  see  anything  better 
in  the  Negro  than  a  chattel.  We  sincerely  sym- 
pathize with  them.  They  have  undergone  tre- 
mendous, unrestorable  losses  through  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  slave,  and  a  lifetime  will  scarcely 
eradicate  the  bitterness  thereof  among  these  poor 
children  of  men. 

THE  NEGRO'S  PLACE.— The  most  de- 
plorable thing  about  it  is  that  they  persist  in 
treating  the  race  question  in  such  an  unscientific 
manner,  that  it  is  merely  a  species  of  fault-find- 
ing. The  desire  to  "plainly  show  the  Negro  his 
proper  place  in  our  system  of  government,"  is  no 
treatment  of  the  question  under  discussion.  The 
Negro,  as  a  whole,  has  no  proper  place  where 
all  may  be  justly  located  in  our  system  of  gov- 
ernment: While  some  of  them  are  not  yet  fully 
competent  to  exercise  the  rights  of  full  citizen- 
ship, as  is  so  often  contended,  the  majority  are 
as  competent  as  any  foreigners  that  ever  landed 
on  our  shores;  and  some  are  as  competent  as  a 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  127 

Vardaman  to  fill  a  senatorial  chair  in  our  na- 
tional capitol.  And  of  this  fact  true  Americans 
need  not  be  ashamed,  but  intensely  proud,  as  it 
shows  the  world  that  the  mixed  American  peo- 
ple are  the  most  progressive,  intellectual  and  in- 
vincible people  on  the  earth;  and  that  the  whole 
world  will  be  drawn  into  the  united  American 
races  before  the  trumpet  of  Gabriel  sounds.  We 
here  refer  to  the  union  of  all  races ;  and  we  shall 
show  the  reader  in  this  book  that  such  a  union 
is  inevitable. 

THEIR  MINDS  ARE  WARPED.— Vol- 
taire once  said  that  he  had  been  so  busy  in  grind- 
ing out  natural  laws,  for  so  many  years,  that  his 
mind  had  lost  its  power  to  reason  correctly  upon 
moral  subjects,  and  this  same  fact  is  applicable 
to  these  southerners,  who  are  born  and  raised  to 
"keep  the  nigger  in  his  place."  Their  minds  are 
deficient  in  those  mental  elements  which  create 
the  moral  feelings  that  recognize  and  sense  the 
highest  Christian  and  humane  law  of  Universal 
Brotherhood,  as  taught  by  Jesus  and  other  great 
leaders  of  religious  and  moral  thought  of  ancient 
and  modern  times.  They  are  the  dare-devil- 
spirits  who  work  for  effect,  and  their  own  selfish 
ends,  regardless  of  consequences  or  moral  de- 
cency. They  belie  and  damn  the  entire  colored 
race  just  because  they  can.  Like  a  wicked  boy, 
spoiled  in  the  raising,  they  set  a  big  dog  upon  a 
small,  defenseless  one.  They  indulge  in  this 


128  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

immoral  sport  with  a  wicked  eye  and  the  craving 
of  an  abnormal  nature.  The  degeneracy  and 
sensuality  of  the  old  slave  master  is,  as  the  Scrip- 
tures say,  visited  upon  the  descendants  of  that 
master.  All  sensible  men  and  women  of  both 
races  should  pity  these  poor,  deluded  mortals. 
To  hate  them  would  be  a  crime,  because  they 
are  irresponsible. 

ANOTHER  ANTI-NEGRO  PHILOSO- 
PHER.— Thomas  H.  Norwood  of  Georgia,  a 
former  United  States  Senator  and  a  city  judge, 
when  retiring  from  the  bench  which  he  had  oc- 
cupied twelve  years,  delivered  an  address  on 
the  race  question.  The  judge  said  that  after  in- 
vestigation and  long  contact  with  the  Negro  as  a 
defendant  in  his  court,  he  had  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  the  Negro  is  incapable  of  receiving 
and  using  more  than  the  rudiments  of  an  edu- 
cation. The  Negro  as  a  slave  was  cared  for  by 
the  white  man,  he  said,  but  the  present  genera- 
tion is  retrograding  to  the  status  of  the  savage 
and  rule  by  force.  This  is  shown  by  the  constant 
disregard  of  laws,  repeated  resistance  of  arrest 
and  shooting  down  of  white  men  who  attempt  to 
control  them.  The  mulatto  is  the  curse  of  both 
the  white  man  and  the  Negro  race  in  the  South, 
said  Judge  Norwood.  They  stir  the  others  to 
deeds  of  violence  and  create  discord.  Illicit 
miscegenation  he  held,  should  be  repressed  by 
the  most  vigorous  laws.  It  should  be  made  a 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  129 

capital  offense,  the  guilty  man  hanged  and  the 
woman  sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  life. 

This  man  claims  he  has  studied  or  investigated 
the  Negro  for  a  long  time — in  his  court  as  a  de- 
fendant. Has  he  ever  made  careful  investiga- 
tions out  of  his  court  as  a  friend?  Is  it  possible 
to  investigate  and  study  ten  millions  of  people 
by  the  few  hundred  miserable  examples  that  are 
brought  before  the  bench  of  a  city  judge?  A 
man  must  have  the  wisdom  exceeding  that  of 
Solomon,  to  thus  draw  conclusions  of  any  value 
whatever.  And  as  regards  resisting  arrest,  to 
which  Judge  Norwood  referred  as  evidence  of 
retrogression ;  the  facts  are  as  follows :  When  a 
Negro  is  arrested  in  the  South  for  any  crime 
from  chicken  stealing  to  murder,  there  is  im- 
minent danger  of  lynching  without  trial  or  a 
fair  chance  of  defense,  and  rather  than  submit 
to  such  a  painful  and  ignominious  end,  he  fights 
when  cornered  and  dies  like  a  man.  Let  the 
officers  of  the  law  guarantee  safety  and  a  fair 
trial  to  their  colored  prisoners,  and  there  would 
soon  be  a  decrease  in  resisting  arrest. 

A  BROAD,  UNBIASED  INVESTIGA- 
TION.— What  do  we  think,  who  have  also  in- 
vestigated the  Negro  and  race  question,  not  from 
the  standpoint  of  inbred  prejudice  or  in  a  city 
court,  but  in  the  homes  of  the  poor,  the  humble, 
the  cultured,  the  professional,  in  school,  among 
children,  in  church,  in  society,  everywhere, —  as 


130 


HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 


HE  VOMITS  POLITICAL  RACE  DOPE. 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  131 

an  unbiased,  careful  student  of  human  nature. 
What  do  these  wide-mouthed  philosophers  know 
about  the  Negro  anyhow?  Have  they  the  con- 
fidence, respect  and  heart-secrets  of  the  intelli- 
gent colored  folk?  Have  they  entered  their  lives, 
thought  their  thoughts  and  experienced  their 
hopes  and  fears,  their  joys  and  tears,  and  felt 
the  burning,  choking  sensations  of  humiliation, 
to  which  they  are  so  often  subjected  without  re- 
dress or  a  word  of  complaint? 

Do  these  agitators  realize  that  they  will  be 
regarded  the  fools  of  this  age  a  hundred  years 
hence — that  they  are  treading  a  mill  that  will 
grind  long  after  their  mortal  bodies  have  been 
given  over  to  the  worms  and  have  returned  to 
dust;  and  that  it  will  grind  so  fine  that  their  im- 
mortal self  (if  they  have  not  lost  their  identity) 
will  be  in  danger  of  hell-burning  remorse?  The 
paramount  question  will  soon  confront  America 
— What  shall  we  do  with  the  white  color  line 
maniac  of  the  country? 

GOD'S  FINGER  OF  APPROVAL  IS  UP- 
ON THE  MULATTO.— If  this  man  from 
Georgia  and  others  like  him  mean  that  the  aver- 
age West  African  Negro  in  his  native  jungle  is 
not  capable  of  receiving  more  than  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  education,  they  may  be  partially 
right;  but  when  they  say  this  of  the  American 
Negro,  they  are  wrong.  And  when  they  say  that 
the  present  generation  is  retrograding  to  savage- 


132  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

ry,  they  are  decidedly  wrong.  When  they  say 
the  mulatto  is  the  curse  of  both  the  white  man 
and  the  Negro  race  in  the  South,  they  say  right. 
The  mulatto  is  the  greatest  curse  (?)  that  God 
Almighty  has  ever  raised  for  the  purpose  of 
lifting  up  a  whole  race  of  people,  and  to  lay 
bare  the  hidden  foulness  of  the  prevailing  wrong 
social  condition  in  this  country.  These  state- 
ments may  sound  radical,  and  out  of  place  in 
a  work  given  to  science,  reason  and  justice 
rather  than  religious  sentiment;  but  we  shall 
give  you  plenty  of  sound,  scientific  evidence 
to  back  up  every  statement  made,  before 
you  close  this  book;  and  if  we  can  impart 
to  you  a  glimpse  of  Divine  Providence  in 
the  marvelous  evolutionary  process  that  dom- 
inates the  American  Negro,  as  we  proceed,  we 
believe  you  will  be  better  prepared  to  draw  your 
final  conclusions  when  all  has  been  said  and 
done.  We  say  that  God  has  placed  his  finger 
of  approval  upon  the  colored  Caucasian,  and 
that  this  race  is  destined  to  become  one  of  the 
intellectual  and  industrial  giants  of  America 
and  the  civilized  world.  This  is  why  the  mulatto 
is  considered  such  a  curse  to  the  South  today, 
is  it  not? 

Ninety  per  cent  of  all  the  great  people  ia 
the  world's  history,  of  whom  we  have  any  record, 
have  been  of  a  mixed  origin ;  perhaps  this  is  why 
the  mulatto  is  a  curse. 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  133 


A  beautiful  conception  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dixon, 
author  of  "The  Leopard's  Spots." 


134  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

CHAPTER  VI 

NORTHERN  PREJUDICE 

A  SCATTERED  FEW  HOLD  COLOR 
LINE  IN  CONTEMPT.— We  have  said  con- 
siderable about  the  so-called  "smart  nigger,"  as 
the  enlightened  colored  gentleman  is  designated. 
We  shall  have  occasion  to  mention  him  again. 
But  before  we  speak  of  him  further  in  this  chap- 
ter we  shall  take  up  northern  prejudice  in  order 
to  convey  more  clearly  the  chain  of  thought  be- 
gun in  the  preceding  discussion.  There  is  an 
old  proverb,  "Never  trouble  trouble  till  trouble 
troubles  you."  The  southerners  have  long  had 
a  serious  trouble,  and  this  same  trouble  is  now 
confronting  the  northern  Yankee  in  the  South. 
We  honor  every  northern  sympathizer  with  our 
work,  who  believes  in  and  champions  the  cause 
of  the  poor,  down-trodden,  despised  colored 
race.  We  have  in  mind,  while  we  write  these 
lines,  several  persons  of  ability  and  influence 
who  would  willingly  give  their  best  thought  and 
energy  to  untangle,  adjust  and  alleviate  the  dif- 
ficulties of  the  colored  people,  if  they  had  in 
their  possession  the  key  that  unlocks  the  door 
to  the  "Hall  of  Reason,"  so  that  the  light  thereof 
might  illuminate  the  black  caverns  of  mental 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  135 

ebscurity  in  the  white  man's  boasted  canopy  of 
human  justice,  and  knock  the  prancing  steed 
from  under  the  proud  parader  of  heaven-born 
supremacy.  Unless  there  is  a  decided  change 
in  the  attitude  toward  the  colored  race,  of  many 
northern  people  in  the  North  and  of  many  who 
settle  in  the  South,  \ve  have  not  the  slightest  hope 
that  a  better  sentiment  will  be  created,  beneficial 
to  the  race,  intellectually,  socially,  industrially 
or  morally,  as  far  as  they  are  concerned.  We  do 
not  mean  to  say,  though,  that  the  Negro  is  desti- 
tute of  the  friendship  or  sympathy  of  northern 
people  who  have  settled  in  the  South.  But  it  is 
only  among  the  scattered  few  who  take  a  broader 
interest  in  and  a  more  substantial  view  of  life 
and  the  human  race;  and  who  have  cast  aside 
the  narrow,  self-centered  religious  and  material 
interests,  and  look  forward  to  a  better  condition 
for  all  mankind,  who  welcome  and  love  the  good 
colored  people.  By  many  of  these  the  color 
line  is  held  in  profound  contempt;  and  for  rea- 
sons founded  on  their  religious  faith  and  a  true 
understanding  of  the  law  of  human  progress  and 
justice.  In  the  North,  where  the  bad  Negro 
element  is  not  conspicuous  to  warp  the  faith  in 
the  race,  this  class  is  vastly  in  the  majority.  We 
are  sorry  to  say,  though,  that  one  bad  Negro 
sometimes  may  turn  one-half  of  a  northern  com- 
munity against  the  race.  The  big  riot  at  Spring- 


136  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

field,  111.,  some  time  ago,  is  a  fair  example. 
There  is  a  class  of  Negro  haters  in  the  North, 
composed  of  the  scum  of  society,  that  is  ever 
ready  to  hang  and  burn ;  but  if  the  Negro  were 
displaced  by  the  Jap  or  Chinaman,  the  result 
would  be  the  same.  This  unstable  element  is, 
in  some  parts  of  the  North,  as  plentiful,  or  in 
proportion  as  numerous,  as  the  Negro  in  the 
South.  But  don't  let  our  readers  be  deceived 
by  any  false  statements;  the  millions  of  substan- 
tial northern  people  are  the  best  friends  the  Afro- 
American  race  has  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
ocean.  Any  colored  man  or  woman  first  travel- 
ing in  the  North,  will1  at  once  feel  the  spirit  of 
liberty  that  pervades  everything. 

THE  COLOR  LINE  FEVER.— That  the 
blind,  silly  pretentions  of  the  common  populace, 
with  regard  to  the  color  line,  should  be  repu- 
diated by  substantial  citizens  is  no  wonder;  for 
it  is  sickening,  indeed,  to  hear  the  opinions  of 
many  of  these  base  pretenders  when  they  speak 
of  the  "nigger,"  and  especially  when  one  knows 
that  these  very  ones  are  of  less  credit  to  the  moral 
tone  of  a  community,  than  even  the  least  respect- 
able Negroes  in  it.  Scientific  investigation  has 
convinced  us  that  the  insane  prejudice  of  this 
class  is  but  a  symptom  of  a  deep-seated  moral 
disease,  with  which  they  are  afflicted;  for  among 
the  morally  sound  whites,  North  and  South,  we 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  137 

have  scarcely  ever  heard  a  single  word  said 
against  the  colored  race  as  a  whole  or  the  color 
line,  but  have  always  found  more  sympathy  than 
complaint,  often  with  the  addition  of  a  hope  ex- 
pressed that  a  better  day  might  dawn  for  the 
race. 

We  have  knowledge  of  many  instances  where 
northern  whites,  of  most  respectable  Christian 
character,  invited  their  colored  help  to  eat  with 
them  at  the  family  table  after  settling  in  the 
South.  The  color  line  hubbub  of  today  is  not 
simply  a  harmless  fad,  indulged  in  by  such  as 
have  no  higher  employment  for  their  shallow 
minds,  but  it  is  a  serious,  deep-seated  affair,  that 
does  not  only  belittle  and  snub  the  best  colored 
man,  but  works  permanent  injury  to  the  highest 
interests  of  both  races.  The  growing  sentiment 
among  the  present  generation  of  whites,  that 
the  Negro  is  not  wanted,  is  the  outgrowth  of  this 
color  line  cry,  and  consequently  the  strained  con- 
dition between  the  races  becomes  more  acute. 
We  give  just  one  instance  here  to  show  you  how 
it  works  among  northern  people  in  the  far 
South,  who  have  contracted  the  color  line  fever. 
We  quote  from  a  local  newspaper: 

"Fairhope  is  doing  what  Citronelle  did  several 
years  ago — turning  down  Negro  excursions.  The 
Bay  Steamship  Company  has  an  excursion  billed 
to  land  at  Fairhope  next  Monday.  Fairhope 


138  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

owns  their  own  wharf,  and  say  that  they  shall  not 
land."  Fairhope  like  Citronelle  is  essentially  a 
northern  town.  It  was  built  and  is  inhabited 
by  a  single  tax  colony.  A  people  who  should 
be  broadminded  enough  to  welcome  any  folk 
who  desire  to  spend  a  day  of  recreation  and  en- 
joyment in  their  vicinity.  These  Mobile  excur- 
sions are  made  up  of  a  promiscuous  crowd. 
Sometimes  a  little  shooting  fracas  happens 
among  them,  and  one  of  their  number  may  be 
killed,  as  was  the  case  in  Citronelle  a  few  years 
ago,  but  in  the  main  it  is  a  good-natured  crowd, 
out  for  a  good  time.  Now,  the  idea  we  wish  to 
convey  here,  without  undue  reflection  on  these 
towns  or  people,  is  this :  A  certain  class  of  north- 
ern people  in  the  South  do  not  wish  to  be  incon- 
venienced or  bothered  with  the  "nigger."  In 
other  words,  they  have  no  use  for  colored  folks, 
they  do  not  want  them  around  if  they  can  get 
along  without  them.  They  have  not  gained  their 
confidence,  and  know  absolutely  nothing  about 
these  peculiar,  interesting  children  of  men.  This 
seems  to  be  the  prevailing  sentiment  wherever 
a  northern  community  is  found,  if  not  openly 
expressed,  as  in  the  towns  above  named,  it  is 
nevertheless  quietly  assumed.  Now,  the  reason 
is  not  so  much  on  account  of  color,  with  many 
of  these  northern  friends,  as  on  account  of  the 
fact  that  the  Negro  today  is  not  what  the  average 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  139 

American  white  man  and  woman  believes  he 
ought  to  be,  as  we  have  said  in  a  preceding  chap- 
ter. This  color  line  cry  has  undoubtedly  become 
acute  on  account  of  the  forces  in  existence,  which 
move  the  masses  of  the  colored  race  upwards, 
round  by  round,  into  the  higher  intellectual  and 
social  scales  of  civilization.  In  some  instances 
the  colored  man  has  the  highest  and  holiest  fra- 
ternal feelings  in  his  heart,  when  he  expresses 
a  desire  to  at  least  under  some  circumstances,  ob- 
literate the  color  line.  Such  a  desire  was  expressed 
by  a  camp  of  colored  Spanish  war  veterans.  We 
give  it  as  editorially  commented  upon  by  an  old 
prominent  southern  paper.  And  in  connection 
with  the  following  editorial  comes  to  our  mind 
a  statement  Booker  T.  Washington  made  in  his 
speech  in  the  Auditorium,  during  the  Jubilee 
week  in  Chicago,  after  the  Spanish-American 
war.  He  said: 

"We  can  celebrate  the  era  of  peace  in  no  more 
effectual  way  than  by  a  firm  resolve  on  the  part 
of  northern  men  and  southern  men,  black  men 
and  white  men,  that  the  trenches  that  we  together 
dug  around  Santiago  shall  be  the  eternal  burial 
place  of  all  that  which  separates  us  in  our  busi- 
ness and  civil  relations.  Let  us  be  generous  in 
peace  as  we  have  been  in  battle.  Until  we  thus 
conquer  ourselves,  I  make  no  empty  statement 
when  I  say,  that  we  shall  have  a  cancer  gnawing 


140  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

at  the  heart  of  the  republic  that  shall  one  day 
prove  as  dangerous  as  an  attack  from  an  army 
without  or  within." 

After  all  these  years  have  passed  the  following 
incident  shows  that  Booker  T.  Washington's 
words  have  fallen  upon  barren  soil. 

THE  COLOR  LINE  AMONG  SPANISH 
WAR  VETERANS.— "Recently  a  camp  of 
Spanish  war  veterans  in  Washington,  composed 
entirely  of  Negroes,  proposed  consolidation  with 
a  white  camp.  The  proposition  was  repelled 
with  energy.  Not  content  with  that  attempt  to 
obliterate  the  color  line,  Past  Commander  Wor- 
rell Ball  renewed  the  effort  the  other  night  at 
a  reception  to  National  Commander-in-Chief 
Walter  Scott  Hale,  at  Grand  Army  Hall,  where 
both  white  and  Negro  veterans  had  gathered,  by 
declaring  that  "the  color  line  does  not  exist  in 
the  Spanish  War  Veterans."  His  declaration 
was  not  only  hissed,  but  many  whites  left  the 
hall.  The  color  line  is  definitely  drawn  every- 
where. Its  eradication  is  impossible.  All  effort 
in  that  direction  is  not  only  futile,  but  operates 
as  a  positive  injury  to  the  Negro,  as  it  tends  to 
arouse  race  antagonism." 

This  editor  says  that  the  color  line  is  definitely 
drawn  everywhere,  and  that  the  eradication  of  it 
is  impossible,  and  wherever  attempted  it  "oper- 
ates as  a  positive  injury  to  the  Negro." 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  141 

First,  why?  Because  it  "tends  to  arouse  race 
antagonism." 

Secondly,  how?  By  giving  him  the  shadow 
of  a  hope  of  social  equality. 

Thirdly,  because  his  skin  is  dark  or  black,  his 
hair  kinky,  and  he  has  once  been  a  slave,  and 
by  the  law  of  "might  makes  right,"  must  be 
eternally  doomed  to  the  realms  of  an  inferior 
being. 

Fourthly,  to  sum  up  the  whole  matter,  the  com- 
mon phrase  of  the  South  is  appliable — "The 
nigger  must  be  kept  down." 

The  editor  does  not  say  all  this  in  the  above 
comment,  but  he  who  runs  may  read  between 
the  lines  all  that  is  meant  to  be  conveyed  in 
every  reference  to  this  subject. 

THE  COLORED  GENTLEMAN.— Once 
upon  a  time  he  may  have  crawled  up  to  his 
master,  and  kissed  the  dust  from  his  feet  in  hum- 
ble submission,  but  conditions  have  changed. 
The  "smart  nigger,"  the  enlightened  colored 
gentleman  of  today  is  a  different  psychological 
product.  While  he  may  have  inherited  some  of 
the  worst  elements  in  two  races,  he  also  decid- 
edly inherited  the  noble  qualities  which  form 
the  foundation  upon  which  a  noble  race  may 
well  be  founded. 

We  are  prepared  to  meet  the  criticism  of  the 
biased.  We  have  knowledge  of  instances  of  the 


142  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

noblest  sacrifices,  the  bravest  deeds  of  heroismr 
and  the  chivalrous  characteristics  so  well  marked 
in  him,  that  to  dispute  this  point  would  be  non- 
sense, or  rather  indicate  a  sad  lack  of  informa- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  investigator.  Space  does 
not  permit  us  to  give  illustrations  here,  but  a 
little  investigation  on  the  part  of  the  reader  will 
prove  to  him  the  truth  of  our  statement. 

COLORED  CHILDREN  OF  THE 
GENTLEMAN.— Should  we  compare  the 
children  of  this  class  with  those  of  the  northern 
whites,  we  find  a  marked  contrast  and  a  heavy 
balance  on  their  side  in  many  cases,  in  regard 
to  obedience  to  parents  and  respect  for  both 
whites  and  blacks  of  mature  years. 

Any  unbiased  southerners  will  testify  to  this 
fact.  This  has  been  to  us  one  of  the  most  pleas- 
ing qualities  found  in  these  people.  It  counts 
for  much.  And  then  when  we  find  that  these 
children  are  also  taught  to  be  thrifty  and  in- 
dustrious and  make  something  of  themselves,  we 
feel  a  sensation  of  hope  and  brighter  days  for 
the  American  colored  folk.  When  we  stop  and 
think  of  the  contrast  between  these  little  folks 
of  color,  who  are  for  the  most  part  kept  busy 
in  the  field  and  home,  or  at  something  in  the 
city  or  in  school,  and  then  are  reminded  of  the 
great  army  of  white  boys  and  girls,  North  and 
South,  who  idle  away  so  much  of  their  time  that 


OR    THE    FADING    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


143 


GROUP   OF    COLORED    CHILDREN    OF    THE 
COLORED    GENTLEMAN. 


144  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

could  be  devoted  to  some  useful  as  well  as  in- 
structive vocation,  we  cannot  help  but  believe 
that  these  little  dark  people  are  on  the  right 
road  to  future  moral  and  industrial  greatness. 
We  admonish  parents  to  ever  keep  before  them 
the  duty  of  teaching  their  children  to  be  indus- 
trious. It  is  with  a  philanthropic  feeling,  un- 
doubtedly well-meaning  and  genuine,  that  time 
and  money  are  at  present  spent  in  northern  cities 
for  the  establishment  of  well-equipped,  extensive 
playgrounds  for  children.  This  is  all  good  and 
well  for  the  smaller  ones,  but  that  larger  chil- 
dren should  thus  idle  away  their  time  in  play, 
is  not  conducive  to  good  morals  or  future  good 
citizenship.  The  foundation  for  usefulness  and 
industry  must  be  laid  early  in  a  child's  life.  In 
other  words,  it  must  be  taught  early  to  do  some- 
thing and  form  the  habit  of  doing  something. 
It  is  with  great  pleasure  and  profound  admira- 
tion that  we  often  watch  the  little  brown  hands 
do  useful  things  and  a  great  variety  of  things, 
and  the  little  minds  ever  busy  to  conjure  up  some 
way  in  which  the  thing  in  hand  might  be  done  a 
little  quicker  and  a  little  better.  As  for  intel- 
ligence; these  children  certainly  deserve  great 
credit.  But  it  is  phrenologically  known  that 
Negroes  are  generally  bright  in  early  childhood, 
and  in  the  cross  breeds  none  of  this  native  alert- 
ness seems  to  be  lost;  neither  have  we  found  that 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  145 

the  stamina  of  the  Negro  is  lost  in  the  children 
of  the  fairer  parents,  or  in  the  offspring  of  a 
white  man  and  a  fair  colored  woman.  The  re- 
sult of  such  crossing  depends  invariably  upon 
the  constitution  and  health  of  the  parties  who 
thus  cross,  as  it  does  with  people  of  the  same 
race. 

We  do  not  give  illustrations  to  prove  these 
statements  here,  but  have  simply  touched  upon 
this  matter  in  passing,  to  prepare  the  reader  for 
a  fuller  discourse. 

A  BAD  ELEMENT,  NOT  A  CREDIT.- 
It  is  not  the  colored  man's  fault  that  he  is  not 
what  the  whites  would  wish  him  to  be.  The 
power  that  moves  and  controls  the  destiny  of 
all  mankind,  includes  him  and  shapes  him  as 
well  as  every  other  creature  in  the  evolutionary 
process.  There  is  an  element  among  them,  to 
be  sure,  that  is  not  a  credit  to  the  race  or  to  our 
age.  And  we  are  convinced  that  the  southern 
states  must,  in  the  near  future,  provide  means  to 
rid  themselves  of  this  degenerate,  criminal  class. 
Why  such  men  as  Senator  Tillman,  ex-Gov- 
ernor Vardaman  and  others  should  so  hopelessly 
lose  themselves  in  the  race  question,  is  more  than 
we  can  comprehend.  An  incredible  amount  of 
harm  is  done  the  South  by  such  men.  They  do 
not  represent  the  real  sentiment  of  their  country, 
or  any  country,  but  arouse  the  devilish,  groveling 

10 


146  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

instinct  of  the  bloodthirsty  beast  of  prey,  with- 
out a  shadow  of  justice  or  reason.  Let  human 
justice  step  in,  calm,  considerate,  and  the  race 
question  will  be  solved  and  settled  for  all  time, 
and  a  superior  people  will  be  the  result;  and 
this  great  Southland  will  blossom  like  a  rose, 
and  its  dusky  citizens  will  prove  indispensable 
to  the  greatest  of  all  countries  on  earth. 

We  here  ask,  is  it  fair,  is  it  just  that  the  en- 
lightened, respectable  colored  people  of  the 
South  should  be  classed  with  their  unfortunate, 
depraved  black  brothers?  Should  those  who 
have  striven  against  mountains  of  obstacles,  and 
have  risen  in  spite  of  them,  be  thus  classed? 
Should  any  white  man,  North  or  South,  with 
any  sense  of  decency,  of  justice,  ever  open  his 
mouth  and  say  "all  Negroes  are  alike?" 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  147 

CHAPTER  VII 

COLOR  AGAINST  WHITE 

A  WRONG  FEELING.— A  feeling  pre- 
vails among  a  scattered  class  of  colored  people 
in  the  South  and  elsewhere,  that  the  whites  are 
invariably  opposed  to  them  socially — that  there 
can  never  exist  a  feeling  between  them  to  the  ex- 
tent of  co-operation  in  business,  society  and  re- 
ligion— visiting  and  returning  visits,  and  in  other 
ways  cultivate  the  Christian  spirit,  as  becomes 
a  free  people  of  a  free  country. 

Now,  while  we  have  found  that  the  common 
run  of  whites,  which  constitutes  a  majority,  are 
opposed  to  and  prejudiced  against  socially,  in- 
dustrially, politically  or  religiously  mingling 
with  color;  we  have  discovered,  and  are  aware 
of,  a  spirit  of  liberality  or  toleration  in  a 
cultured  few  in  nearly  every  neighborhood 
throughout  the  country,  that  points  toward  a 
better  fraternal  feeling  and  the  social  emancipa- 
tion of  at  least  the  better  class  of  people  of  color 
in  the  near  future.  Furthermore,  it  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  colored  people  themselves  are 
to  blame  for  a  great  deal  of  the  nefarious  color- 
phobia  contagion  prevalent  in  America.  When 
we  started  out  to  prepare  this  book  we  promised 


148  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ourselves  and  all  concerned  that  we  would  tell 
the  truth,  so  help  us  God,  and  that  promise 
stands. 

The  Negro  cannot  forever  fall  back  on  the 
fact  that  he  has  been  a  slave,  and  consequently 
is  irresponsible.  That  he  was  taught  to  steal 
and  must  steal  still ;  that  he  was  taught,  by  cruel 
treatment,  to  hate  the  white  man,  and  that  he 
must  hate  him  still;  that  he  was  in  poverty, 
superstition  and  ignorance,  and  must  continue 
to  plead  poverty,  ignorance  and  immunity  from 
all  responsibility.  We  tell  an  absolute  truth 
when  we  say  that  there  exists  as  much  prejudice 
of  color  against  white  today,  as  white  has  ever 
harbored  against  color.  We  have  made  numerous 
experiments  along  this  line,  and  have,  for  the  most 
part,  found  that  the  better  class  of  Negroes  have 
no  fraternal  feeling  or  sociability  toward  the 
white  man  in  the  South.  No  matter  how  kind 
the  white  man  may  be  toward  them,  or  how  far  he 
may  press  his  society  upon  them,  there  is  gen- 
erally little  or  no  response,  and  he  is  made  to 
feel  that  he  is  none  too  welcome  among  them. 
Yet,  we  have  heard  the  complaint  by  this  class, 
that  the  white  man  will  not  recognize  them  or 
treat  them  with  respect,  socially. 

A  FRATERNAL  SPIRIT  AND  A  TIE 
THAT  BINDS.— Not  long  ago  a  refined,  in- 
telligent southern  gentleman,  who  has  been  a 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  149 

confederate  soldier,  told  us  that  in  all  his  long  life 
and  varied  experiences  with  the  "darkey,"  he 
could  sincerely  say  that  he  would  far  rather 
have  a  good  colored  family  for  a  close  neighbor, 
and  his  intimate  friends,  to  any  whites.  He 
could  call  upon  them  at  any  time,  in  case  of  need 
or  emergency,  and  they  would  generally  stand 
ready  and  willing  to  assist  you  and  do  what  they 
could  for  you.  And  these  old  southerners  do 
not  speak  thus  flippantly,  or  without  tangible 
reasons.  Perchance,  their  thoughts  sometimes 
revert  to  the  "dear  old  plantation,  'way  befo  de 
wah,"  and  they  once  more  feel  themselves 
nestled  in  the  big,  soft  arms,  against  the  broad, 
heaving  bosom,  beneath  which  the  throbbing 
of  a  big,  loving  heart  could  be  felt;  and  they 
again  catch  the  broad  smile,  and  see  the  row  of 
glittering  white  teeth,  and  the  play  of  sunshine 
light  up  that  big,  black,  maternal  face;  and  they 
again  hear  the  cooing  of  the  old  plantation  mel- 
odies, as  they  are  gently  rocked  to  and  fro,  until 
they  lose  themselves  once  more  in  the  dreamland 
of  slumber  on  the  arms  of  their  old  black  mammy, 
their  dear  old  mammy,  long  since  gone  to  the 
dreamland  from  whence  there  is  no  return.  No 
monument  may  shade  her  lonely  grave,  telling 
of  her  life  of  love  and  devotion  to  the  holy  cause 
of  rearing  some  of  the  greatest  men  and  women 
of  their  generation,  yet  she  was  a  heroine. 


150 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


THE    OLD    BLACK    MAMMY. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  151 

In  all  human  associations  there  are  some  ties 
that  bind — they  are  in  the  blood — that  no 
amount  of  succeeding  prejudice  or  growing 
chasms  of  reversed  conditions,  or  upheavals  of 
social  controversy,  or  man's  inhumanity  to  man 
can  sever.  Such  a  tie,  if  we  look  for  it,  we 
still  find  underneath  all  the  hubbub  and  rubbish 
of  late  years'  degeneracy  of  both  whites  and 
blacks  in  the  South.  It  is  often  asserted  that 
this  lofty  sentiment,  so  strongly  rooted  in  the 
hearts  of  the  true  southern  gentleman,  expresses 
only  his  appreciation  of  the  faithfulness  of  the 
Negro  as  a  servant;  but  that  it  is  not  meant  to 
convey  any  thought  of  equality.  This  is  un- 
doubtedly true  in  most  cases,  but  where  this  good 
will  is  exercised  between  the  races,  there  can  be 
but  a  short  step  left  to  a  final  social  understand- 
ing. Many  men  and  women,  North  and  South, 
who  have  the  kindest  feeling  toward  the  Negro, 
dare  not  express  their  sympathy  for  fear  of  pub- 
lic ridicule  and  social  ostracism.  They  are 
justly  branded  as  moral  cowards;  but  the  Negro 
who  believes  that  all  white  men  are  his  enemies, 
and  are  trying  to  "keep  the  Negro  in  his  place," 
is  not  only  a  coward,  but  a  breeder  of  dissension 
and  an  enemy  of  his  race  as  well. 

WHAT  CAN  BE  THE  FIRST  CAUSE 
OF  THE  IMPENDING  SOCIAL  ERUP- 
TION?— What  can  be  at  the  bottom  of  or  the 


152  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

first  cause  of  the  present  impending  social  erup- 
tion between  the  races?  This  question  is  often 
asked.  The  Negro  illiterate  is  a  silent  figure  and 
a  harmless  one,  so  far  as  he  has  not  been  inocu- 
lated with  the  poison  of  dissension  by  the  per- 
nicious agitator.  There  are  Vardamans  and 
Tillmans  in  the  Negro  race  as  well  as  in  the 
white  race;  men  who  do  more  harm  than  good. 
We  believe  in  healthy  agitation,  and  encourage 
it  everywhere;  but  we  condemn  a  spirit  of  hat- 
red and  prejudice  wherever  we  meet  it. 

Now  the  facts  we  have  before  us  are  these: 
The  enlightened  Negro  has  education  and  in- 
telligence enough  to  know  right  from  wrong, 
and  that  he  ought  to  condemn  the  wrong  and  up- 
hold the  right  in  both  races.  The  white  man 
has  long  and  faithfully  fought  the  battles  of  the 
Negro.  He  has  spilt  his  blood  and  generously 
sacrificed  his  life  for  him;  he  has  spent  millions 
upon  millions  of  his  money  to  educate  him  and 
better  his  conditions;  he  has  not  even  hesitated 
to  enter  the  jungles  of  his  native  haunts  to  bring 
light  and  the  gospel  of  truth  to  the  dark  con- 
tinent. The  best  brain  and  the  greatest  minds 
of  the  white  race  in  America  are  even  today 
championing  the  cause  of  the  Negro.  Should 
not  the  Afro-American  turn  about  and  stop  the 
boastful  spirit  of  bragism — of  what  he  has  done 
since  his  emancipation — and  give  credit  to  the 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  153 

faithful  men  and  women  of  the  white  race  who 
have  assisted  him,  and  without  whom  he  could 
have  done  but  little  under  prevailing  conditions 
worthy  of  his  great  race?  We  contend  that  the 
Negro  has  not  done  more  than  he  ought  to  have 
done;  and  today  he  is  not  doing  half  as  much  as 
he  ought  to  do  in  the  way  of  bettering  his  con- 
ditions. Again,  in  connection  with  this  thought, 
we  have  the  fact  that  nearly  all  the  people  of 
mixed  blood  are  leaders  of  the  race,  and  that 
this  relationship  which  exists  between  the  caces 
ought  to  be  a  means  of  cementing  them  instead 
of  separating  them.  This  process  of  cementing, 
if  it  may  be  called  that,  is  going  on  at  a  tre- 
mendous rate  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  as 
we  prove  elsewhere.  So  it  cannot  be  that  racial 
hatred  on  the  part  of  the  colored  man,  exists 
because  of  ignorance  or  paternal  relationship. 
The  first  cause  must  be  traced  elsewhere.  It  lies 
not  in  the  lack  of  intelligence  or  education,  or 
in  the  lack  of  blood  admixture ;  but  in  the  mental 
habit  of  finding  the  flaws  and  shortcomings  of 
the  white  man.  Naturally  imaginative  in  his 
make-up,  he  often  pictures  to  himself,  and 
argues  the  point  with  others,  that  all  men  with 
white  faces  are  his  enemies.  And  it  is  curious, 
sometimes  his  own  face  is  nearly  as  white  as 
his  father's! 


154 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


He  is  a  sort  of  leech  that  lives  by  other  men's  toil.     The  result 
of  cigarettes  and  "dope." 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  155 

THEY  HAVE  KINDLED  THEIR  OWN 
FIRE. — The  fire  of  their  own  kindling  is  roar- 
ing, and  the  soup  in  their  own  domestic  pot  is 
boiling  over.  They  are  stirring  with  their  might, 
and  are  endeavoring  to  inhere  the  unattainable 
without  a  semblance  of  qualification,  in  many 
instances. 

These  same  people  of  color  who  so  vigorously 
stir  their  pot,  are  harping  continually  on  one 
string,  trying  to  convince  us,  meanwhile,  that 
they  are  innocent  angel-martyrs,  and  absolutely 
irresponsible  for  the  present  unsatisfactory  con- 
dition between  the  races;  and  yet,  they  are  the 
shapers  of  their  own  future — the  architects  of 
their  own  fortune.  They  stand  today  in  a  posi- 
tion where  they  can  prove  themselves  a  true 
brother  to  the  white  man,  and  finally  compel 
him  to  recognize  them  as  such,  if  they  will  it. 
On  the  other  hand  they  can  show  a  spirit  of  ha- 
tred and  importance  that  will  forever  rupture 
the  relations  and  future  welfare  of  a  great,  mixed 
American  people. 

THE  MOST  DANGEROUS  CLASS  OF 
NEGROES. — We  now  have  in  mind  a  class  of 
Negroes  who  do  not  think  deeper  of  or  have  a 
more  tender  regard  for  a  white  man,  than  that 
prompted  by  avarice.  We  have  often  come  in 
contact  with  this  hog.  He  covets  the  very  ground 
upon  which  a  white  man  walks,  and  works  his 


156  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ruin  wherever  he  may.  He  is  the  greatest  enemy 
the  race  has  today.  If  the  white  man  would  not 
find  for  him  employment  and  the  means  of  live- 
lihood, he  would  exercise  very  little  care  for  the 
welfare  of  his  white  brother.  It  is  the  mighty 
dollar  that  prompts  him  to  be  on  friendly  terms 
with  the  whites.  Those  from  whom  he  cannot 
so  well  succeed  in  getting  this  coveted  United 
States  currency,  are  not  considered  .his  friends. 
He  is  also  a  devotee  of  the  tipping  evil.  The 
white  man  who  slips  a  dollar  into  his  palm  is 
a  fine  gentleman.  He  likes  to  get  something 
for  nothing  from  the  white  people.  He  is  a  sort 
of  leech  that  lives  by  the  blood  of  other  men's 
toil.  The  same  spirit  of  avarice  that  prompted 
his  remote  ancestors,  to  sell  into  slavery  their 
own  children,  is  here  manifested.  He  will  sell 
his  own  wife  and  daughters  into  a  life  of  shame, 
This  is  by  all  odds  the  most  dangerous  Negro 
we  have.  He  is  the  man  who  believes  that  the 
white  man  owes  him  something.  He  claims  that 
the  South  does  by  right  belong  to  him,  as  his 
forefathers,  when  slaves,  fought  the  wilderness 
and  under  the  master's  lash  subdued  it  and  made 
it  inhabitable,  and  an  inheritance  that  he  must 
some  day  claim  as  his  own  by  right  of  the  sub- 
jugation of  his  progenitors.  We  have  heard 
him  express  the  hope  that  some  day  when  the  un- 
avoidable crisis  is  due,  England,  France,  or  some 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  157 

other  great  foreign  power  would  intervene,  and 
he  would  then  gain  full  possession  of  all  the 
wealth  of  the  South. 

But  the  crowning  sign  of  mental  decrepitude 
manifests  itself  in  the  total  absence  of  regard  for 
all  whites  and  even  for  his  own  people,  and  in 
the  hateful  "let  me  alone"  spirit  of  independence 
of  a  poisonous,  reptilian  nature.  Only  so  far 
as  he  is  compelled  to  associate  with  the  whites 
to  get  their  money  or  means  of  subsistence,  will 
he  consent  to  submit  to  the  social  customs  of 
courtesy  and  decent  behavior  in  their  presence, 
and  were  it  not  for  fear  we  doubt  whether  even 
that  much  of  good  humor  would  be  forthcoming. 
No  confidence  in  and  no  respect  for  all  whites, 
and  for  his  own  people  whom  he  calls  "niggers," 
is  the  accepted  rule  of  his  social  calibre,  and 
consequently  no  social  harmony  is  emitted  from 
this  sort  of  being.  Every  respectable  colored 
man  and  woman  should  openly  repudiate  him 
and  censure  him  on  every  hand. 

He  is  a  stumbling  block  to  his  own  people, 
and  a  snare,  deception,  and  imposition  to  all 
with  whom  he  comes  in  contact.  In  his  scien- 
tific research  the  author  has  had  more  trouble 
in  obtaining  a  true  diagnosis  of  this  class  than 
any  other.  He  met  with  more  cunning,  sham, 
and  hypocracy  in  this  scattered  class  than  in  the 
class  of  the  sin-steeped  black  quarters  of  large 


158  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

cities.  It  does  not  take  very  much  of  the  wrong 
agitation  extant,  to  incense  this  class  to  all  kinds 
of  violence.  Injustice  breeds  contempt  and  red- 
dens a  hand  in  anarchy. 

SECRET  ORDERS  AMONG  THE  NE- 
GROES.— The  many  secret  orders  among  the 
Negroes,  we  believe,  should  inculcate  a  spirit  of 
patriotism  and  love  of  country,  that  would  root 
out  all  wrong  impressions  and  desires  to  become 
traitors  of  a  great  country  and  a  great  people, 
who  have  given  them  educational  advantages 
and  freedom  in  such  vast  numbers  as  no  other 
country  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  ever  done 
before. 

We  do  not  say  that  the  secret  orders  are  creat- 
ing anti-American  sentiments  among  the  Ne- 
groes; but  we  do  say  that  there  can  be,  and  to 
some  extent  undoubtedly  is,  unconsciously  creat- 
ed such  a  danger.  The  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  members  of  the  various  secret  orders  are  today 
the  shapers  of  the  destiny  of  the  colored  people 
in  America;  no  intelligent  member  of  the  race 
will  deny  this.  They  are  even  more  potent  at 
present  than  the  church  and  school.  We  do  not 
speak  carelessly  when  we  say  that  the  military 
training  in  many  of  these  societies  is  one  of  the 
greatest  impending  dangers  to  which  the  peace 
of  the  country,  the  welfare -of  the  race,  and  the 
loyalty  of  the  Negro  is  exposed. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  159 

We  have  been  told  by  some  of  the  leading 
ministry  of  the  colored  church  that  the  Negro 
is  society  cursed — that  the  secret  orders  are  dis- 
placing the  interest  in,  and  crippling  the  vitality 
of,  the  Christian  church.  No  man,  not  even  a 
Negro  can,  at  a  dollar  or  a  dollar  and  a  half 
per  day,  belong  to  two  or  three  secret  orders  and 
at  the  same  time  be  a  live  member  of  a  church, 
and  support  a  family  in  the  bargain.  Somebody 
is  going  to  suffer  as  a  consequence.  His  wife 
may  have  to  take  in  extra  washing  or  more  con- 
genial work  in  order  to  keep  all  dues  paid,  and 
wear  herself  out  in  the  effort,  as  many  a  brave 
and  devoted  colored  woman  is  doing. 

But,  you  say,  what  has  this  to  do  with  the  sub- 
ject under  consideration?  Just  this:  The  Negro 
is  an  extremist.  He  will  go  into  a  thing  he  likes 
up  to  his  ears,  and  suffer  as  a  consequence.  The 
show,  mystery  and  discipline  of  many  secret 
orders  are  attractive  to  him,  and  he  goes  into 
them  with  the  blind  enthusiasm  of  his  emotional 
nature,  without  first  counting  the  cost.  And  with 
guns  and  swords,  and  other  parapharnalia  of 
martial  warfare  at  hand  in  some  of  these  orders, 
and  an  exaggerated  consciousness  of  their  effi- 
cacy, it  would  be  an  easy  matter  to  incense  him 
to  commit  wholesale  murder  throughout  the  en- 
tire South,  at  a  time  when  some  black  bastards 
and  white  imbeciles  will  cause  a  general  race 


160  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

feeling.  Guns  and  swords  are  to  fight  with.  We 
have  never  found  any  other  legitimate  use  for 
them.  Every  Negro  family  in  the  entire  South 
is  well  supplied  with  fire-arms.  The  entire  col- 
ored press  and  pulpit  should  condemn  the  use 
of  fire-arms  as  a  dangerous  plaything,  detri- 
mental to  the  best  interests  of  the  race,  and  have 
them  displaced  by  the  spelling  book  and  reader. 
Guns  and  swords  are  relics  of  barbarism,  and 
any  people,  white  or  black,  who  hoard  them  are 
designers  of  iniquity  and  in  league  with  hell! 
Every  state  in  the  union  should  have  a  law,  com- 
pelling the  owner  of  a  fire-arm  to  be  registered 
and  pay  a  license  fee  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars 
per  annum.  And  for  the  violation  of  this  law 
a  penalty  of  three  years'  hard  labor  on  a  state  or 
county  road  should  be  provided. 

All,  or  nearly  all,  secret  orders  claim  their 
foundation  in  the  Christian  religion.  Let  us 
see  whether  this  claim  is  a  substantial  one,  or 
whether  it  is  only  a  supposition  after  all.  Our 
purpose  is  to  show  the  reader  of  both  races  that 
if  the  secret  orders  are  based  upon  the  true  Chris- 
tian religion,  they  ought  to  constitute  a  tie  that 
should  bind  the  two  races  so  firmly  together  that 
no  trouble,  of  whatever  nature,  could  possibly 
rupture  that  relationship.  No  fake  brotherhood 
can  tie  the  two  races  and  make  them  one. 

FUNDAMENTAL  DOCTRINE.— Inorder 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  161 

to  illustrate  our  point  we  will  take  out  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  the  fundamental  doctrine 
of  Universal  Brotherhood,  which  every  Chris- 
tian church  and  brotherhood,  founded  upon  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  must  follow:  "Ye  have 
heard  that  it  hath  been  said,  An  eye  for  an  eye, 
and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth;  but  I  say  unto  you,  That 
ye  resist  not  evil ;  but  whosoever  shall  smite  thee 
on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also. 
And  if  any  man  will  sue  thee  at  the  law,  and  take 
away  thy  coat,  let  him  have  thy  cloak  also.  And 
whoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  a  mile,  go  with 
him  twain.  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and 
from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not 
thou  away.  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been 
said,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor,  and  hate 
thine  enemy;  but  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  en- 
emies, bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them 
that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  which  despite- 
fully  use  you,  and  persecute  you." 

For  what  purpose  are  we  commanded  and 
persuaded  by  Jesus  to  do  thus?  For  this  sublime 
purpose:  "That  ye  may  be  (regardless  of  race, 
color,  poverty  or  riches)  the  children  of  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven;  (here  he  gives  us 
tangible  reason)  for  He  maketh  His  sun  to  rise 
on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain 
on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust.  For  if  ye  love  them 
which  love  you,  (those  of  your  particular  race, 


11 


162 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


e      mre 

ers:  for  they  shall" be  eg/fed  the 
i/dren  of  God? 

**»— ^  ,       O  ; 


SERMON  ON  THE  MOUNT. 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  163 

color  or  clan  only)  what  reward  have  ye?  Do 
not  even  the  publicans  the  same?  And  if  ye 
salute  your  brethren  only,  (those  of  your  par- 
ticular lodge  or  church  or  society)  what  do  ye 
more  than  others?  Do  not  even  the  publicans 
so?  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

We  would  like  to  quote  more  extensively,  the 
religion  of  Jesus  as  taught  by  Himself  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount;  but  every  reader  who  is 
willing  may  turn  to  the  fifth  chapter  of  Mat- 
thew, and  obtain  for  himself  the  true  doctrine, 
pertaining  to  the  Christian  religion.  All  other 
so-called  Christian  doctrines  vanish  into  noth- 
ingness when  compared  with  those  of  the  foun- 
tain head. 

The  secret  orders  may  all  be  founded  upon 
the  Bible — everything,  good  and, bad,  is  founded 
upon  that — but  the  religion  of  Jesus  stands  for 
a  Universal  Brotherhood,  so  broad  and  far- 
reaching  that  it  tolerates  no  sect,  secret  order, 
class,  race  or  clan — "do  not  even  the  publicans 
so?"  His  religion  makes  every  man  a  brother 
and  every  woman  a  sister. 

Let  these  principles  of  Universal  Brotherhood 
be  taught  from  every  pulpit  and  in  every  school 
in  the  land,  both  white  and  colored,  and  a  great 
people,  whose  voice  would  truly  be  the  voice 
of  God,  would  be  the  ultimate  result.  And  what 


164  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

a  magnificent  country  these  United  States  would 
be  with  such  a  people,  and  such  boundless  re- 
sources at  their  command? 

THE  PINK-SKINNED  MAN  IS  HIS 
FRIEND. — There  are  some  things  that  the 
Afro-American  must  remember.  The  best  friend 
the  Negro  ever  had,  since  his  pre-historic  ances- 
tors were  driven  into  or  entered  the  steaming 
jungles  of  Africa,  is  the  man  of  pink  skin.  Then, 
again,  remember  that  the  Negro  has  always  been 
the  greatest  enemy  of  himself,  from  the  earliest 
recorded  history  to  the  present  day.  And  that 
the  treatment  received  at  the  hands  of  his  white 
superiors  during  the  darkest  days  of  American 
slavery,  never  exceeded  the  atrocity  practiced 
upon  himself  as  a  naked  savage  in  the  jungles 
of  Africa.  Let  us  remember  also,  above  all  else, 
that  this  white  enslaver  has  left  his  mark  on  the 
black  enslaved;  and  that  through  his  failings  he 
has  humiliated  himself,  in  the  blood  that  courses 
through  the  veins  of  the  Afro-American.  But 
for  this  and  their  existence  on  the  western  conti- 
nent, ten  million  more  savages  would  still  be 
groping  in  the  trackless  jungles,  perhaps  hunting 
their  fellow  man  for  food,  sucking  his  blood  and 
devouring  his  quivering  flesh. 

We  have  often  heard  the  complaint  that  all 
white  folks  judge  the  colored  folks  by  the  stand- 
ard of  the  criminal  class.  We  know  they  do  not. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  165 

Many  of  the  colored  race  inspire  hatred  toward 
the  white  race  through  their  children,  by  many 
careless  and  pernicious  remarks  in  their  presence. 
How  much  of  the  present  race  feeling  is  thus 
created  in  the  young  of  both  races  is  hard  to 
determine.  It  is  often  said  that  white  children 
are  born  in  the  South  to  keep  the  Negro  down. 
How  many  Negro  children  are  born  to  make 
trouble  for  the  whites  is  hard  to  estimate. 

It  is  contended  that  the  ignorance  of  the  Negro 
and  the  bad  treatment  received  by  the  whites, 
is  the  cause  of  the  present  bad  feeling  toward 
the  Caucasian.  But  the  intelligent  Negro  knows 
very  well  that  it,  too,  is  ignorance  on  the  part 
of^the  whites  which  causes  the  race  feeling;  and 
that  this  ignorance  and  lack  of  fraternal  feeling 
is  the  cause  of  a  great  deal  of  the  prejudice  to- 
day. If  the  white  and  colored  in  this  country 
could  be  educated  up  to  the  fact  that  each  must 
live  for  all,  and  that  the  mistakes  of  one  must 
not  be  held  up  before  the  other,  color  line  and 
prejudice  would  soon  die.  And,  naturally,  we 
would  live  happy  together. 

LOVE  BEGETS  LOVE.— Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington has  well  said:  "Both  races  will  grow 
strong,  useful  and  generous  in  proportion  as  they 
learn  to  love  each  other  instead  of  hating  each 
other." 

Love  is  manifest  in  all  Nature's  handiwork. 


166  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

When  man  learns  to  understand  the  infinite  wis- 
dom of  human  variety,  his  happiness  is  assured. 
He  will  then  fully  comprehend  the  fact  that 
every  man  is  his  brother  and  every  woman  his 
sister — that  the  God  of  Nature  has  in  His  in- 
finite love  and  wisdom  given  a  variety  of  hues 
to  the  skin  of  man  for  a  divine  purpose — that 
we  have  mental  and  physical  dissimilarities  for 
evolutionary  growth. 

What  a  creature  is  man  that  he  should  revolt 
against  the  inevitable?  Should  he  not  bow  in 
humble  submission  to  the  Infinite?  Should  he 
not  rather  thank  Him  for  such  beautiful  var- 
ieties of  colors,  bodies  and  minds  for  our  im- 
provement, elevation,  enjoyment  and  happiness? 

The  repetition  of  my  race,  my  color,  my  clan 
breeds  contention  and  hatred,  uncalled  for  in  this 
age  of  enlightenment.  It  should  find  no  lodge- 
ment in  the  minds  of  true  American  citizens. 
We  are  "a  people"  and  "the  people,"  and  not 
this  race  and  that — a  white  and  a  black,  a  yellow 
and  a  brown.  Those  who  insist  upon  the  recog- 
nition of  "my  race  and  my  people,"  are  the  un- 
mitigated enemies  and  traitors  of  our  country, 
our  God  and  our  future  welfare. 

"United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall,"  should 
be  the  watchword  of  all  the  people.  If  the  peo- 
ple insist  upon  absolute  color  lines  and  marked 
separation  in  the  future,  our  union  cannot  sur- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  167 

vive  the  onslaught  of  Father  Time.  And  for 
whom  would  it  be  darkest,  should  a  race  rup- 
ture dismantle  the  spirit  of  calmness  in  this  great 
Southland?  For  none  other  that  the  man  of 
color.  Let  him  plunge  into  a  race  war,  and  he 
is  doomed!  What  forty  years  and  more  of 
bloodless  warfare  against  ignorance  and  poverty 
has  wrought,  one  year  of  martial  warfare  would 
hopelessly  cripple. 

Tell  it  again;  scatter  the  seed  abroad  to  every 
man,  woman  and  child  that  Love  is  all-powerful, 
and  that  the  flames  thereof  burn  to  the  quick 
the  foulest  enemy  that  ever  crawled  on  God's 
green  earth ;  and  that  the  bite  of  serpents  and  the 
sting  of  scorpions  of  the  human  kind  cannot 
harm  those  who  put  on  the  armor  of  Universal 
Brotherhood. 

A  TERRIBLE  DAY  FOR  AMERICA.- 
Capt.  Richmond  P.  Hobson,  gives  a  graphic  de- 
scription in  Cosmopolitan  magazine  for  Septem- 
ber,  1908,  as  a  possible  outcome  of  war  with 
Japan.    We  quote  him  as  follows: 

"If,  through  delay  in  the  arrival  of  our  new 
fleet,  (after  the  first  one  had  been  destroyed) 
Japan  had  time  to  repair  and  prepare  her  in- 
jured fleet,  and  our  new  fleet  upon  arrival,  fool- 
ishly crossed  the  ocean  and  met  disaster,  then 
Japan  would  come  into  permanent  control  of 
the  sea,  and  the  Pacific  coast  would  be  invaded 


168  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

in  force.  Our  nation  would  be  turned  into  an 
army,  but  only  reverses  would  attend  attempts 
to  dislodge  the  Japanese  in  full  control  of  the 
slope  from  the  coast  to  the  mountains.  The  one 
sure  way  to  proceed,  the  one  that  would  be  ulti- 
mately adopted,  would  be  to  draw  upon  our  vast 
resources,  quickly  build  a  new  fleet  of  great  pre- 
ponderance, and  send  it  around. 

"Its  approach  would  signal  the  loss  of  control 
of  the  sea  to  the  Japanese,  and  their  forces  would 
retire.  With  the  mainland  clear,  our  next  move 
would  be  an  expedition  to  recover  Hawaii.  This 
would  involve  a  great  transport  service,  but  we 
would  have  created  it  in  advance.  After  reduc- 
ing Hawaii  and  occupying  it  in  force,  our  next 
move  would  be  a  great  expedition  against  the 
Philippines.  The  stupendous  army  and  the 
transport  service  would  be  at  hand,  and  the 
Philippines  would  fall.  Our  next  move  would 
be  an  even  greater  expedition  against  Japan  *  *  * 
America's  ultimate  victory  would  be  complete, 
but  it  would  be  bought  at  a  terrible  price,  not 
only  because  of  the  fabulous  cost  of  armament 
and  of  pensions  for  a  hundred  years,  not  only 
because  of  the  suffering  and  death  of  hundreds 
of  thousands — even  millions — of  men,  and  the 
misery  of  their  families,  but  the  years  of  warfare 
and  hatred  would  leave  us  a  nation  of  soldiers, 
with  militarism  in  complete  control ;  our  free  in- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  169 

stitutions  would  totter,  and  liberty  for  mankind 
would  be  delayed  for  long  centuries  to  come." 

Now,  we  would  cautiously  remark  that  Mr. 
Hobson  does  not  make  a  single  allusion  to  the 
ten  million  colored  people  already  in  our  midst, 
whose  sympathy  would  easily  be  enlisted  with 
the  little  yellow  man,  who  has,  like  the  Negro, 
suffered  humiliation  and  exclusion  at  the  hands 
of  the  dominant,  money  grabbing,  race  hating 
American.  The  war  Hobson  has  in  mind  would 
not  be  a  war  of  nations  as  much  as  one  of  races— 
the  colored  races  pitted  against  the  white.  Japan 
and  China  are  a  kin  if  it  comes  to  that,  and  the 
Afro-American,  who  has  tasted  of  the  sweets  of 
civilization,  is  also  a  distant  relative.  All  of 
them,  when  once  united,  would  stand  man  to  man 
in  defense  of  equality  with  the  white-skinned 
man;  and  who  dare  prophesy  that  they  would 
not  get  it? 

The  Chinaman  and  Japanese  have  for  centur- 
ies been  taught  that  they  are  heaven-born — 
descended  from  the  gods — and  they  will,  when 
once  powerful  enough  in  a  thorough  union, 
demonstrate  to  the  world  that  this  assertion  of 
their  superiority  must  stand.  The  Negro,  or 
rather  colored  Caucasian  of  America,  through 
whose  veins  flows  the  blue  blood  of  the  south- 
ern aristocracy,  is  also  ready  to  demonstrate  that 
he  is  as  good  as  his  white  father  or  grand  parent. 
And  the  black  man  is  catching  the  same  spirit. 


170  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

If  that  terrible  day  should  dawn  in  America, 
that  would  find  the  nation  crippled  and  bleed- 
ing— when  color  is  pitted  against  white — it 
would  remember,  as  never  a  people  remembered 
before,  that  no  republic  can  live,  no  modern  na- 
tion survive,  in  which  race  prejudice  and  color 
lines  exist.  America  must  stand  united  or  die 
divided.  A  legal  amalgamation  of  the  races 
is  essential  to  our  national  life. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  171 

CHAPTER  VIII 

CRIME,  LAW  AND  PUNISHMENT 

EYE  FOR  EYE,  TOOTH  FOR  TOOTH. 

— The  elements  of  crime  are  the  same  in  essen- 
tial, features  in  every  part  of  the  civilized  world. 
Since  the  tablets  of  stone  were  handed  down  from 
Mount  Sinai  there  have  been  certain  acts  recog- 
nized by  almost  the  whole  human  family  as  in- 
imical to  social  order  or  individual  rights. 

In  the  various  stages  of  human  development 
divers  forms  of  punishment  for  crimes  com- 
mitted have  been  devised  and  inflicted  on  the 
guilty. 

False  notions  of  religions  have,  for  instance, 
been  instrumental  in  some  misguided,  semi-civil- 
ized peoples  in  promoting  crime,  and  also  in 
applying  methods  of  punishments,  shocking  in 
the  extreme  to  all  highly  developed  and  more 
sensitive  minds. 

Many  men,  in  different  ages,  have  taken  spe- 
cial delight  in  administering  punishments  for 
real  or  imaginary  crimes  committed  by  certain 
defenseless  people.  The  Mosiac  principles  of 
punishment — eye  for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth — has 
adhered  to  the  practice  of  courts  and  juries 
throughout  all  the  intervening  centuries  with 


172  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

wonderful  persistence.  It  is  only  within  recent 
years  that  some  states  in  America  have  ventured 
to  relax  the  law  of  a  life  for  a  life  in  the  case  of 
murder. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  book  to  enter 
upon  a  thorough  discussion  of  the  law  of  crime 
and  criminal  procedure.  Fact  is,  the  writer  is 
so  absolutely  opposed  to  the  common  method 
employed  in  the  punishment  of  the  criminal 
class,  that  to  enlarge  upon  this  subject  would 
bring  up  a  question  that  would  require  more 
space  than  could  be  allotted  to  it  here. 

THE  MOST  OUTRAGEOUS  PRAC- 
TICE.— It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  we  are 
opposed  to  capital  punishment  for  crimes  com- 
mitted. Our  opposition  is  based  upon  scientific 
reasons. 

First,  we  maintain  that  most  crime,  for  which 
punishment  is  inflicted,  is  committed  by  beings 
who  are  unfortunately  developed,  mentally  and 
physically,  and  are  consequently  more  or  less 
irresponsible.  To  take  their  lives  does  not  im- 
prove the  morals  of  a  people,  while,  if  justly 
considered,  it  adds  only  another  crime  to  the 
one  perpetrated  by  the  criminals. 

Secondly,  we  maintain  that  crime  is  the  result 
of  the  abnormal  development  of  certain  mental 
faculties  in  the  brain  of  the  criminal,  and  that 
all  men  possess  these  same  mental  ekments  in 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  173 

a  weaker  or  stronger  degree,  counter-balanced 
by  other  faculties  promoting  good,  and  that  if 
a  criminal,  who  is  on  the  wrong  side  of  mental 
balance,  or  out  of  self-control,  is  killed,  the 
higher  elements  of  his  mind  are  also  murdered. 
In  other  words,  the  good  man  in  the  criminal  is 
killed  along  with  the  bad  one.  And  no  class  of 
men,  state  or  government,  has  a  moral  right  to 
kill  the  good  in  the  supreme  economy  of  life,  to 
rid  themselves  or  society  of  the  evil  thereof. 

Furthermore,  we  maintain  that  no  human  be- 
ing should  be  thrust  into  a  dungeon  or  locked 
into  a  prison  for  any  considerable  length  of  time. 
We  consider  this  the  most  outrageous  practice 
that  has  ever  been  contrived  by  monsters  in  hu- 
man form.  If  there  is  a  purgatory  anywhere  in 
God's  universe,  it  has  its  counterpart  most  glar- 
ingly portrayed  in  the  black  dungeon  and  iron 
cage  of  the  ancient  and  modern  prison  system. 

HORRORS  IN  AMERICAN  PRISONS. 
—A  report  published  by  the  American  Prison 
association  is  in  effect  an  arraignment  of  the 
whole  prison  system  in  the  United  States.  Two 
hundred  and  ninety  institutions  in  37  states  were 
visited  and  carefully  inspected.  With  a  few  ex- 
ceptions it  was  found  that  all  sorts  of  horrors 
existed  which  could  not  be  justified  under  any 
statute  ever  enacted.  Prisons  were  hotbeds  of 
disease,  dangerous  not  only  to  the  inmates  but 


174  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

to  the  outside  public.  The  character  of  the  food 
and  the  way  of  serving  it  were  revolting  and  de- 
moralizing. Overcrowding  was  a  frightful  evil. 
In  Birmingham,  Ala,  240  men  were  found  in 
seventy-two  cells,  and  twenty-five  women  in  ten 
cells.  In  Los  Angeles  135  men  were  found  in 
eighty-eight  cells.  One  person  to  a  cell,  the 
prison  association  says,  is  all  that  should  be  al- 
lowed. "It  is  a  strong  temptation,"  says  the  re- 
port, "to  specify  particular  cities  where  nameless 
abuses  exist;  where  little  children  are  kept  in 
rooms  with  polluted  and  diseased  adults;  where 
a  poor  insane  victim  of  brain  disorder  howls  all 
night  in  company  with  ruffians ;  where  an  honest 
fellow,  unable  to  pay  a  fine  for  a  spree,  is  locked 
in  with  thieves.  These  are  not  pictures  from 
novels;  they  are  bald  prosaic  facts  set  down  by 
honest  eyewitnesses  in  answer  to  printed  ques- 
tions." Imprisonment  without  occupation,  the 
report  declares,  is  a  straight  path  to  insanity.  In 
143  jails  the  men  prisoners  have  no  occupation, 
while  in  155  the  women  prisoners  have  nothing 
to  do.  The  association  is  strongly  in  favor  of 
labor  colonies  where  persons  may  be  taught  in 
an  intelligent  way  to  lead  better  and  useful  lives. 
It  favors  keeping  prisoners  until  their  reform 
is  reasonably  assured,  but  it  is  insistent  that 
where  no  effort  at  reform  is  made,  the  whole  in- 
fluence of  jails  is  debasing.  In  many  jails  in- 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  175 

fluences  for  good  are  meager,  if  not  wholly  lack- 
ing. Twenty-five  jails  do  not  provide  any  read- 
ing matter  for  prisoners.  In  eighty-eight  no  re- 
ligious services  of  any  kind  are  ever  held.  Un- 
doubtedly American  prisons  need  investigation 
and  reform  as  badly  as  any  institution  in  the 
country. 

THE  UNITED  STATES  PENAL  SYS- 
TEM IS  A  FAILURE.— Brand  Whitlock,  the 
Toledo,  Ohio  reform  mayor  says:  "Our  penal 
system  is  a  failure;  only  we  do  not  know  it  yet. 
Governments  have  tried  it  for  thousands  of  years, 
and  our  government  is  reported  as  saying  that 
the  tendency  to  crime  still  exists.  Our  penal 
system  only  hurts  and  never  helps  its  victims, 
directly  or  indirectly,  whether  they  are  innocent 
or  guilty.  It  deters  some  from  committing  crime 
and  makes  hypocrites  of  more,  and  it  wholly  ig- 
nores economic  or  social  causes  for  crime  and 
makes  no  allowance  for  personality.  It  is  a  fail- 
ure because  it  is  founded  in  fear  and  hatred,  and 
cruelty  and  cowardice.  It  mercilessly  grinds  the 
poor  and  the  weak  in  the  interest  of  the  strong. 
It  oroceeds  from  and  dwells  on  the  bad  in  man, 
not  the  good.*  We  shall  have  a  system  that  will 


Judge  McKenzie  Cleland  says  :  "By  this  system  crime  has  in- 
creased so  rapidly  that  the  authorities  are  now,  in  this  year  of  our 
Lord  nineteen  hundred  and  nine,  afraid  to  publish  the  facts,  afraid 
to  make  known  the  truth.  The  last  Government  statistics  on 
crime  were  published  in  1890.  two  decades  ago.  In  1000  the 
figures  were  gathered,  but  the  Government  suppressed  them." 


176  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

do  good  only  when  society  recognizes  its  own  re- 
sponsibility for  crime  and  lives  up  to  it,  and 
when  it  dwells  upon  and  develops  the  good  in 
man  instead  of  the  bad.  *  *  *  It  might  be  well 
for  the  government  to  get  out  some  statistics 
showing  why  there  is  more  crime  after  financial 
panics  and  industrial  depressions  than  in  good 
times.  Why  the  hold-up  man  and  purse- 
snatcher  always  turns  up  with  the  first  cold 
weather,  and  why,  when  the  mills  shut  down, 
there  are  more  hoboes  and  yeggs  on  freight 
trains.  You  might  pursue  all  these  little  crimes 
to  their  original  source  and  cause.  It  would  not 
be  long  before  there  would  be  no  necessity  for 
statistics  on  crime,  and  then,  in  some  idle  hour, 
the  clerks  in  the  statistical  bureau  might  occupy 
themselves  with  tracing  the  relation  between  the 
vulgar  crimes  of  force  and  violence  and  the  ar- 
tistic crimes  of  craft  and  cunning — artistic 
crimes  which  do  not  have  to  break  laws  because 
they  make  the  laws  to  suit  themselves." 

WHO  MAKES  THE  CRIMINAL?— Let 
us  ask  you  here — who  makes  the  criminal  and 
how  does  he  originate?  In  chapter  eighteen  of 
this  book  we  give  a  full  scientific  answer. 

Can  we  accuse  the  Author  of  all  life  for 
crimes  committed  by  His  erring  subjects  ?  Such 
a  doctrine  has  never  found  great  prominence. 
Man  has,  since  the  dawn  of  reason,  believed  in 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  177 

the  influence  of  an  evil  spirit — devil — the  author 
of  all  evil.  This  belief  has  been  prominent  in 
every  age;  but  today,  in  this  age  of  spiritual 
illumination  and  reason,  man  has  come  closer  to 
the  heaving  bosom  of  the  Almighty,  giver  and 
preserver  of  all  life,  and  as  a  consequence  he 
has  knocked  the  horns  from  off  his  majesty,  the 
devil,  and  the  clattering  noise  of  his  cloven  hoof 
is  no  longer  discernable.  Man  has  gained  a 
clearer  conception  of  the  natural  laws  under- 
lying and  dominating  human  kind.  We  are 
now  beginning  to  realize  that  the  evil  we  have 
to  fight,  the  devils  we  have  to  combat,  are  the 
conflicting  elements  in  human  nature.  In  the 
complicated  machinery  of  our  minds  we  find 
the  elements  of  Destructiveness,  of  Combative- 
ness,  Amativeness,  etc.,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
elements  Benevolence,  Spirituality,  Human  Na- 
ture, etc.,  on  the  other.  These  elements  are 
necessary  in  our  mental  make-up  as  free  moral 
agents.  Because  of  Combativeness,  Secretiveness, 
Amativeness,  Destructiveness,  etc.,  we  do  not 
cut  off  our  arm  that  strikes,  or  leg  that  kicks,  or 
cut  out  our  tongue  because  of  blasphemy  or  ly- 
ing. What  do  we  do?  We  try  by  the  counter- 
balance of  Human  Nature,  Benevolence,  Con- 
scientiousness, Spirituality,  etc.,  to  control  our 
tongue,  elevate  and  poise  ourselves.  In  the  com- 
plicated machinery  of  society  the  same  elements 


12 


178  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

of  so-called  good  and  evil  exist.  Why  must  the 
evil  thereof  be  forever  strangled,  beheaded,  or 
indungeoned?  Why  not  make  other  provisions 
for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  bad  element  of  so- 
ciety, and  still  others  that  will  ultimately  prevent 
the  existence  of  said  element,  so  that  society,  like 
the  individual,  may  finally  be  balanced?  We 
shall  show  the  reader  that  the  criminal  must  be 
scientifically  dealt  with,  if  society  is  to  be  saved 
and  humanity  is  to  be  improved. 

THE  LYNCH  LAW.— The  southern  people 
have  for  many  years  resorted  to  the  lawless  prac- 
tice of  lynching  Negroes  without  trial  and  con- 
viction. At  first  this  lawless  method  of  punish- 
ment was  designed  for  those  only  whb  had  com- 
mitted rape  on  white  women;  later  it  was  re- 
sorted to  for  other  grave  crimes  like  murder, 
while  at  the  present  time  any  Negro  who  is  ac- 
cused of  burning  a  building  or  stealing  a  chicken, 
may  be  lynched,  shot  or  burned  by  an  organized 
"law  and  order  league,"  or  by  a  mob  organized 
on  the  spot  for  a  lynching  bee.  About  twelve 
years  ago  it  was  generally  believed  that  this 
atrocity  was  about  nearing  its  end,  but  notwith- 
standing previous  agitation  by  such  noted  persons 
as  Judge  Tourgee,  Dr.  Morehouse,  Ida  Wells- 
Barnett,  Frederick  Douglass  and  others,  the  evil 
seems  to  be  deeper  rooted  in  the  depraved  hearts 
of  the  offspring  of  lynch-advocates  today  than  it 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  179 

ever  was  in  the  hearts  of  their  parents.  We  sup- 
pose the  law  of  heredity  is  not  dormant  in  this 
regard.  As  a  small  white  boy  said  to  his  father 
not  long  since:  "Papa,  I  have  seen  one  nigger 
shot,  one  nigger  lynched,  and  now  I  want  to  see 
one  burned."  Of  the  5,000  lynchings  in  the  last 
twenty-five  years,  ninety-five  per  cent  were 
Negroes  charged  with  assaults  on  white  women 
and  girls.  It  has  been  noted  that  these  killings 
have  become  more  cruel  and  on  slighter  reported 
excuses.  Burning  at  the  stake,  which  was  begun 
in  Texas  sixteen  years  ago  has  been  more  fre- 
quent than  shooting  and  almost  as  frequent  as 
lynching.  It  is  a  hard  matter  to  get  a  correct 
figure  of  the  actual  number  of  Negro  killings 
throughout  the  South  per  year,  as  we  are  aware 
of  the  fact  that  many  such  killings  are  never  re- 
ported to  the  newspapers.  Five  thousand  in  the 
last  twenty-five  years,  we  consider  far  too  conser- 
vative to  cover  the  actual  number  murdered  by 
white  outlaws.  It  is  the  terrible  debasing  effect 
these  killings  produce  in  the  community,  that  the 
people  must  some  day  reckon  with.  When  laws 
are  openly  defied,  anarchy  may  at  any  time  de- 
bauch the  country. 

Within  the  radius  of  thirty-five  miles  of  the 
writer's  former  home  there  were  five  killings 
within  two  years.  Three  were  lynched  for  rape. 
One  of  them  was  accused  of  this  crime  by  a  white 


180 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


BURNING  AT   THE   STAKE. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  181 

woman  in  order  to  shield  a  relative,  who,  she 
later  confessed,  was  the  real  culprit  who  threat- 
ened to  kill  her.  One  was  lynched  for  killing  a 
man,  and  the  other  one  was  murdered  by  white 
fiends  while  peacefully  slumbering  by  the  road- 
side, for  no  other  crime  than  that  he  was  black. 
The  night-rider  outrages  were  but  other  features 
of  the  same  lawless  tendency,  manifested  by  the 
same  class  of  wrhites. 

THE  NEGRO  AS  A  CRIMINAL.- 
"There  is  too  much  crime  among  us,"  says 
Booker  T.  Washington,  in  his  book,  "My  Life 
and  Works."  "The  figures  for  a  given  period 
show  that  in  the  United  States  thirty  per  cent  of 
all  the  crime  committed  is  by  Negroes,  while 
they  constitute  only  twelve  per  cent  of  the  entire 
population."* 

Everybody  who  has  seriously  studied  the 
Negro  question  is  aware  of  this;  and  no  one 
could  give  a  better  reason  for  the  existence  of 
this  undesirable  condition  than  Mr.  Washington. 
He  says,  "A  large  amount  of  crime  among  us 
grows  out  of  the  idleness  of  our  young  men  and 
women."  This  is  a  true  statement  as  far  as  an 
ordinary  surface  observation  is  concerned.  We 
contend  that  the  sporting  proclivity  in  the  pres- 


*Without  doubt  Okolona  has  a  larger  Negro  population  than 
than  any  other  North  Mississippi  town,  yet  crime  here  is  almost 
unknown." — Okolona  Sun. 


182  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ent  generation  is  too  intensely  cultivated,  owing 
to  favorable  opportunities  brought  about  by  the 
changing  conditions  throughout  the  South. 

When  a  young  Negro  sport  can  earn  as  much 
money  in  a  city  in  one  week  as  his  father  used  to 
earn  on  a  plantation  in  a  month,  he  is  generally  a 
candidate  for  partial  idleness  and  crime.  He  is 
a  stumbling  block  to  the  honest  colored  man  who 
deserves  decent  wages,  and  who  works  hard  to 
maintain  a  respectable  home  and  educate  his 
children. 

The  idleness  of  the  young  men  and  women  of 
the  race  is  often  traced  to  the  criminal  neglect  of 
a  certain  class  of  shiftless  parents,  who  fail  to 
rear  their  children  by  precept  and  example  in 
the  ways  of  respectability  and  industry.  Parents 
of  this  class  who  steal  from  their  white  neighbors 
as  well  as  their  black,  cannot  expect  their  sons 
and  daughters  to  refrain  from  stealing,  and  com- 
mitting graver  crimes  when  opportunity  per- 
mits. 

We  fully  expound  in  chapter  eighteen,  that 
like  begets  like — a  thief  begets  a  thief,  a  rapist  at 
heart  begets  a  real  rapist,  a  murderer  at  heart 
begets  a  real  murderer,  etc. 

Booker  T.  Washington  says:  "I  condemn 
with  all  the  indignation  of  my  soul  the  beast  in 
human  form  guilty  of  assaulting  a  woman.  Let 
us  all  be  alike  in  this  particular." 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  183 

We  wish  to  remind  Mr.  Washington  of  the 
fact  that  a  "beast  in  human  form"  must  be  con- 
ceived, born'and  reared,  before  it  can  commit  the 
unspeakable  crime  on  a  woman.  Why  not  go 
back  a  little  and  attack  the  cause,  the  source  of 
the  beast  nature,  and  condemn  it  first  with  "all 
the  indignation  of  our  soul?"  Is  not  the  parent 
of  an  ill-begotten  child  responsible  for  the  result 
of  that  issue,  be  he  white  or  black?  As  two  con- 
sumptive parents  will  beget  children  with  con- 
sumptive tendencies,  so,  too,  will  criminal  par- 
ents beget  criminally  inclined  children.  It  is 
nothing  but  the  penned-up  beast  nature  in  the 
parents  that  breaks  out  in  their  children.  This 
beast  nature  was  first  cultivated  in  the  African 
slave  in  America  by  the  unbridled  beast  passions 
of  the  slave-master  'who  owned  them,  and  has 
now  become  a  second  nature  in  both  races.  Only 
by  refinement  and  a  cultivation  of  the  higher 
faculties  in  the  races,  as  they  commingle,  can  this 
beast  nature  be  ultimately  restored  to  its  normal 
channel.  We  condemn,  in  the  strongest  English 
at  our  command,  the  hell-born  custom  of  Amer- 
ica, which  forbids  the  commingling  of  the  races 
for  moral  and  religious  culture,  while  it  tolerates 
the  mixing  for  evil  purposes;  thus  utterly  cor- 
rupting both  people.  As  long  as  there  is  no  re- 
spect for  the  colored  womanhood  of  America, 
by  the  white  man  of  the  country,  so  long  will  it 


184  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

be  impossible  to  cultivate  and  infuse  a  higher 
moral  tone  in  the  race.  We  wish  to  impress,  in- 
delibly, upon  the  readers'  minds  that  as  soon 
as  legal  intermarriage  displaces  the  old  custom 
of  illicit  mixing,  the  beast  in  both  races  will  dis- 
appear. 

FEW  OUTRAGES  COMMITTED  IN 
THE  NORTH  —  WHY?  —  How  often  do  we 
hear  of  Negro  outrages  committed  on  white 
women  in  such  great  Negro  centers  as  Chicago, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  other  places  in  the 
free  states  of  the  North?  Very  seldom.  And 
those  Negroes  are  not  unlike  the  southern  Negro, 
as  they  have  largely  migrated  there  from  the 
South  in  recent  years.  It  is  in  the  old  slave 
states  that  nearly  all  assaults  on  white  women  are 
reported  to  transpire ;  and  just  where  the  unnat- 
ural social  relations  between  the  races  are  strong- 
est these  outrages  are  most  frequent.  This  goes 
to  prove,  without  further  argument  here,  that  it 
is  not  so  much  the  Negro,  or  the  colored  man, 
or  the  beast  in  both  races  after  all  that  is  to 
blame,  as  the  unnatural  relations  maintained  be- 
tween them,  which  gives  all  the  privileges  to  one, 
and  none  of  the  advantages  to  the  other.  A  re- 
spectable colored  man,  who  has  married  a  white 
wife,  cannot  travel  with  her  in  these  old  slave 
states  without  being  in  imminent  danger  of  ar- 
rest and  mob  lynching.  We  know  of  several 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  185 

cases  where  black  men,  who  had  married  white 
colored  women,  got  themselves  into  trouble  when 
their  wives'  Negro  blood  was  unknown.  In  such 
portions  of  the  South  where  foreign  influence 
has  somewhat  changed  conditions,  these  outrages 
on  women  seldom  occur,  and  a  colored  man  is 
there  safest  with  a  white  wife,  or  apparently 
white,  as  also  is  a  white  man  with  a  colored  wife. 
So  wre  say  again,  in  this  connection,  that  the  beast 
in  both  races  can  best  be  eliminated  from  our 
midst,  by  displacing  the  old  custom  of  illicit 
mixing  with  a  legal  intermarriage  provision  in 
the  entire  country. 

WHO  DOES  THE  LYNCHING  IN  THE 
SOUTH? — It  is  a  wrong  supposition  that  these 
lynchers  are  always  composed  of  the  scum  of  so- 
ciety. They  often  represent  men  of  intelligence 
and  high  moral  (?)  standing  in  the  community. 
The  reason  they  resort  to  this  method  of  lawless 
execution  is  self-evident.  The  Negro  is  a  poor, 
most  often  defenseless  creature,  and  to  kill  him 
means  just  one  less  in  the  community,  that  is  all. 
It  is  yet  so  deep-seated  in  the  mind  of  the  old 
South  that  swift  and  certain  death,  regardless  of 
the  offense,  must  befall  the  Negro  (for  any  real 
or  imaginary  crime  committed  for  which  the 
lynch  law  seems  to  be  provided),  that  to  think 
of  saving  the  valuable  energy  of  that  human  be- 
ing for  the  good  of  the  State,  has  not,  it  seems, 


186  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

even  occurred  to  them.  With  all  the  wisdom 
and  moral  sentiment  of  the  South,  no  provisions 
for  the  real  Negro  criminals  of  this  class  have 
been  made  other  than  death,  and  consequently 
that  much  loss  of  valuable  energy  to  the  State 
has  incurred,  that  cannot  be  replaced.  Why  not 
make  provisions  for  the  establishment  of  State 
Eunuch  Institutions,  where  this  energy  may  be 
turned  to  good  account?  Instead  of  making 
such  provisions,  all  kinds  of  schemes  are  con- 
cocted to  exterminate  this  class  of  criminals. 
And  as  the  cause  is  not  removed,  they  will  not 
run  short  of  material  on  which  to  practice  and 
wreak  vengeance,  and  by  which  to  inculcate  fear 
in  those  who  may  be  next  executed.  A  very 
credible  editorial  discourse  is  given  in  a  promi- 
nent southern  Alabama  newspaper,  which  por- 
trays well  the  highest  sentiment  on  this  subject. 
We  give  it  below,  as  it  will  be  of  value  in  connec- 
tion with  what  we  say: 

THE  SUBSTITUTE  FOR  LYNCH  LAW. 
—"Although  lynch  law  maybe  accepted  by  some 
as  the  best  available  remedy  for  the  prevention 
of  certain  forms  of  crime,  no  one,  we  think,  can 
regard  its  permanency  as  an  institution  with  any 
but  greatest  apprehension,  as  being  in  essence  a 
violation  of  the  constitution  under  which  we 
live,  and  therefore  destructive  of  good  govern- 
ment. Should  we  not  attempt  to  devise  a  method 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  187 

of  procedure  that,  while  meeting  the  special  ex- 
igencies of  life,  will  conform  to  law?  There  ap- 
pear to  be  two  influences  at  work  in  bringing 
lynchings  to  pass.  One  is  the  feeling  that  in 
many  localities  there  is  actually  no  police  pro- 
tection; and,  therefore,  lives  must  be  protected 
by  an  invisible  entity,  a  fear  inspired  by  the  sud- 
den appearance  and  violent  action  of  the  vigi- 
lance committee,  or  of  the  mob.  It  is  sought  to 
impress  upon  the  minds  of  the  evil-disposed  that, 
although  no  policeman  be  present,  and  the  inhab- 
itant is  alone  and  unguarded,  there  yet  exists  a 
force  within  call,  that  when  aroused,  is  vengeful 
and  strong.  The  other  influence  is  the  repug- 
nance that  all  honorable  men  have  in  bringing 
into  public  view  the  victims  of  brutal  assaults, 
forcing  them,  in  accordance  with  the  forms  of 
law,  to  attend  an  open  trial  whereat  the  criminal 
is  tried  for  his  crime.  A  third  influence,  al- 
though a  less  one,  is  the  desire  for  the  satisfaction 
of  the  hatred  and  revenge  that  are  aroused  when 
a  crime  of  brutality  is  committed.  Taken  gen- 
erally, lynchings  are  performed  with  a  cold 
determination,  showing  that  the  two  greater  in- 
fluences are  at  work.  How  shall  we  accommo- 
date our  laws  so  that  persons  in  isolated  situa- 
tions will  be  secure,  and  the  tender  and  delicate 
victims  shall  be  spared  the  humiliation  of  having 
their  woes  publicly  exposed,  yet  no  principle  of 
human  right  be  disregarded? 


188  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

A  KIND  OF  MOCK  TRIAL.— "It  would 
seem  that  the  way  to  go  about  it  is  to  change  the 
forms  of  law  so  as  to  give  them  some  of  the  fea- 
tures of  lynch  law,  i.  e.,  immediate  arraignment, 
swift  trial,  and  punishment  without  delay;  and 
all,  without  the  publicity  that  attends  our  regular 
procedure.  There  should  be  legal  provision  for 
immediate  arraignment,  with  special  forms  of 
trial,  so  that  it  will  be  assured  that  in  a  very  short 
time  the  whole  matter  will  be  disposed  of;  and 
there  need  be  no  publicity,  provided  that  there 
is  assurance  of  a  fair  trial.  The  object  of  pub- 
licity is  to  prevent  injustice,  unfair  trials,  and 
despotic  infliction  of  punishments;  but  in  these 
days  of  general  information  and  civic  freedom, 
it  is  possible  to  bar  out  the  public  without  sus- 
picion that  anything  unfair  will  be  practiced  at 
the  expense  of  the  accused.  Why,  indeed, 
should  the  victim  of  a  brute's  criminal  lust  be 
brought  into  court  at  all,  or  forced  to  testify 
about  so  horrid  an  experience?  The  accused 
must  be  confronted  by  his  accuser,  if  the  prin- 
ciple of  our  laws  is  to  be  obeyed,  but  is  it  at  all 
necessary  that  this  should  be  in  open  court,  or  in 
any  court  at  all?  It  can  be  as  well  done  in  the 
privacy  of  the  home,  with  judge  and  jury  only 
present  as  the  guarantors  of  the  observance  of  the 
legal  form. 

VIRGINIA  HAS  SUCH  A  LAW.— "We 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  189 

understand  that  Virginia  has  a  special  statute  af- 
fording speedy  trial,  with  private  procedure  in 
certain  cases,  and  that  since  that  statute  was 
passed  there  has  not  been  a  lynching  in  the  state. 
We  might  as  well  study  such  a  law  and  see 
how  far  it  may  be  adopted  for  use  here.  We 
should  eagerly  seek  out  the  best  remedy  for  our 
unhappy  situation  and  apply  it;  for  the  situation 
is  truly  unhappy,  and  it  is  growing  worse  instead 
of  better,  and  is  already  well  nigh  intolerable. 
Let  us  arrange  so  that  the  Law  shall  be  the  ex- 
pression of  the  absolute  needs  of  the  time,  and 
it  will  then  be  found,  we  believe,  that  we  will 
enlist  in  its  enforcement  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men,  regardless  of  color.  The  result  cannot 
fail  to  be  to  our  great  advantage." — Mobile 
Register. 

STATE  EUNUCH  INSTITUTIONS.— 
We  have  intimated  the  establishment  of  State 
Eunuch  Institutions.  We  believe  that  every 
state  should  have  its  penal  farms;  and  that  espe- 
cially here  in  the  South  the  Negro  criminal 
should  be  taken  care  of  on  such  farms.  Missis- 
sippi has  its  penal  farms  which  are  far  in  ad- 
vance of  penitentiaries  or  prison  walls.  Though 
only  as  yet  in  a  crude,  experimental  stage,  a  num- 
ber of  abuses  being  reported,  they  have  been 
made  to  pay  the  state  a  revenue  besides  all  run- 
ning expenses.  Georgia  has  also  abolished  her 


190  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


THREE  PENCIL  STUDIES   IN  CRIME   BY    THE  AUTHOR. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  191 

unspeakable  peonage  system,  and  is  falling  in  line 
with  Mississippi.  The  occupants  of  penal  farms 
cannot  only  support  themselves,  but  could  be 
made  to  do  splendid  service  for  the  people  of  the 
state  in  the  way  of  building  public  roads. 
"Prominent  men,"  of  the  vigilance  committee, 
will  bump  over  country  roads  that  are  a  disgrace 
to  a  Hottentot  and  resort  to  lynching  bees,  and 
help  to  kill  several  hundred  powerful  Negro 
men  annually,  whose  energy  might  be  utilized  in 
bettering  the  highways  of  the  state.  We  contend 
that  every  southern  state  should  set  aside  and 
equip  a  farm  for  the  reception  of  Negro  crim- 
inals of  a  class  that  should  be  rendered  sterile  by 
the  authority  of  the  state;  and  that  this  author- 
ity should  extend  to  white  criminals  of  a  like 
class.  We  contend  that  the  lynching  of  Negroes 
for  any  crime  committed  is  inhuman  and  bar- 
barous; and  that  all  law  abiding  people  of  both 
races  should  demand  of  the  officers  of  the  law 
that  the  perpetrators  of  this  crime  against  justice 
be  apprehended  and  severely  punished.  During 
the  campaign  President  Taft  said  to  an  audience 
of  colored  ministers  concerning  the  lynching 
evil :  "The  best  remedy,  and  the  necessary  one, 
is  an  improvement  in  the  administration  of  our 
common  laws,  and  the  holding  to  strict  account  of 
officers  of  the  law  who  do  not  use  all  possible 
means  to  prevent  and  suppress  such  outbreaks." 


192  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

We  know  positively  that  at  some  lynchings 
the  officers  of  the  law  are  in  sympathy  with  the 
mob,  and  assist  instead  of  retarding  it.  We  be- 
lieve that  the  federal  government  ought  to  step 
in  and  inquire  into  these  lynching  outrages,  and 
bring  the  law-breakers  of  these  mobs  to  justice. 
When  the  state  will  not  protect  its  citizens  the 
government  must. 

THE  STERILIZATION  OF  CRIMI- 
NALS.— The  criminal  class  is  a  class  to  be  de- 
plored, but  not  hated.  Hate  is  born  of  igno- 
rance and  breeds  corruption.  A  deluded,  venge- 
ance-wreaked mob  which  hangs  or  burns  a  crim- 
inal is  as  deplorable  a  criminal  class  as  the  crim- 
inal himself.  This  particular  criminal  class  is 
the  outgrowth  of  a  corrupt  social  system  in  the 
South  and  elsewhere,  and  now,  since  it  is  with  us 
and  increasing,  it  must  be  scientifically  dealt  with 
—the  only  just  method  to  rid  the  country  of  it. 

In  this  enlightened  age  any  race  of  people  can 
be  improved  in  any  desired  direction  by  proper 
means.  A  progressive  farmer  does  not  hesitate 
to  cut  off  an  unruly,  vicious,  unprofitable  portion 
of  his  flock,  in  order  to  produce  the  desired  re- 
sults. What  the  intelligent  farmer  does,  the  state, 
in  the  case  of  unruly  members,  must  do.  But 
the  South  has  done  little  to  curb  the  Negro  or 
white  criminal  class.  Promiscuous  cohabiting 
among  them  and  with  the  whites  increases  this 


OR   THE    FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  193 

class  to  an  alarming  degree.  There  is  also  noth- 
ing effective  done  to  check  the  spread  of  tuber- 
culosis, which  claims  many  thousands  annually. 
In  fact,  nothing  effective  is  done  among  this  peo- 
ple by  the  southern  states  to  build  up  and  im- 
prove their  conditions  to  any  extent  along  social, 
moral  or  physical  lines.  The  sterilization  of  the 
criminal  and  degenerate  class  would  inflict  no 
hardship  upon  it,  and  would  prove  a  great  bless- 
ing to  both  races.  We  do  not  believe  that  any 
serious  objections  would  arise  among  the  better 
class  of  colored  people,  should  this  measure  be 
inaugurated  throughout  the  South.  The  daugh- 
ters and  wives  of  the  better  families  among  them, 
as  well  as  the  lower  class,  are  exposed  to  the  de- 
pravity of  these  inhuman  beings,  and  the  white 
man's  law  is  generally  of  non-effect  when  it  per- 
tains to  these  people.  We  are  aware  that  no  col- 
ored maiden  can  hardly  obtain  justice  or  protec- 
tion at  law,  be  her  paramour  white  or  black.  If 
a  law,  providing  for  the  sterilization  of  the 
feebleminded,  degenerates  and  criminals  is  re- 
puted to  be  needed  in  Wisconsin,  of  all  the  world 
it  is  most  needed  right  here  in  the  South.  We 
are  proud  of  Wisconsin,  and  especially  of  ex- 
Assemblyman  Mr.  Elver,  of  the  Wisconsin  Leg- 
islature, for  so  bravely  fighting  for  a  measure 
several  years  ago  that  means  so  much,  that  is  of 
such  vast  importance  to  mankind,  especially 


194  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

when  once  adopted  among  the  mixed  southern 
people.  Be  it  "cruel,  inhuman,  contrary  to  di- 
vine law  and  unconstitutional,"  as  legislative  op- 
ponents in  Wisconsin  have  argued,  it  is  neverthe- 
less eternally  right.  "Lead  us  not  into  tempta- 
tion, but  deliver  us  from  evil"  is  of  non-effect, 
if  we  continue  to  allow  evil  to  be  bred  by  the 
wholesale  and  let  hell  multiply.  We  are  glad 
that  several  northern  states  discourage  evil  prop- 
.agation. 

The  American  Prison  Association  in  session  at 
Seattle,  Washington,  in  August  (1909),  spent 
most  of  its  open  session  in  a  heated  debate  on  a 
paper  written  by  Dr.  H.  C.  Sharp,  formerly  sur- 
geon in  the  Indianapolis  Reformatory,  on  the 
"Indiana  Plan"  of  performing  surgical  opera- 
tions on  hopeless  idiots  and  confirmed  criminals. 
A  delegate  moved  that  Dr.  Sharp's  paper  be  sup- 
pressed on  the  ground  that  the  Indiana  plan  was 
contrary  to  the  Bible.  One  delegate  objected  to 
the  debate  being  continued  before  women,  who 
composed  at  least  one-third  of  the  audience. 
Thereupon  the  women  delegates  at  once  took  the 
lead  in  the  controversy,  led  by  Mrs.  Weeks,  pres- 
ident of  the  Philadelphia  Social  Purity  League. 
Mrs.  L.  R.  Eastwood  of  South  Dakota,  advo- 
cated chloroforming  idiots  and  that  made  the 
delegates  laugh. 

During  the  debate  it  was  announced  that  Con- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  195 

necticut  and  California  had  followed  Indiana. 
The  motion  to  suppress  the  paper  was  not  put  to 
a  vote.  President  Gilmore  said  it  would  not  have 
received  three  votes. 

The  debate  on  the  "Indiana  plan,"  for  pre- 
venting the  propagation  of  criminals  and  idiots, 
developed  almost  unanimous  sentiment  for  the 
plan.  The  discussion,  according  to  President 
Gilmore,  of  Toronto,  Canada,  was  one  of  the 
most  profitable  the  association  has  held  for  years. 

Judge  B.  R.  Lindsey,  of  juvenile  court  fame, 
said  among  other  things: 

"Our  criminal  law,  as  it  came  down  to  us 
through  feudalism,  was  an  instrumentality  of 
government  far  from  perfect.  *  *  *  The 
time  may  come,  however  far  in  the  future  it  may 
be,  or,  however  unprepared  we  may  be  for  it, 
even  now,  when  the  state  will  come  to  deal  with 
a  criminal  much  as  we  now  do  with  the  insane." 

CONTRARY  TO  DIVINE  LAW.— Talk 
about  the  effort  to  improve  the  human  race  being 
contrary  to  divine  law?  Can  anything  be  more 
absurd  and  shallow?  Does  not  man  possess  the 
wisdom  and  power  to  co-operate  with  his  Cre- 
ator in  improving,  by  crossing  and  recrossing  the 
various  species  of  plant  and  animal  life?  And 
he  has  not  hesitated  to  employ  this  power  to  its 
full  extent.  Not  even  felt  that  he  was  violating 
a  divine  law  and  a  constitution.  Luther  Bur- 


196  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

bank  must  be  an  unpardonable  sinner,  for  he  has 
done  such  an  inestimable  amount  of  work  in  the 
improvement  of  plants. 

In  the  improvement  of  the  human  race  every 
legitimate  means  should  be  employed;  and  noth- 
ing is  more  effective  than  the  sterilization  of  that 
class,  absolutely  unfit  to  multiply,  which  popu- 
lates the  world  with  misery,  gloom,  despair,  hell ! 
Should  any  people  hesitate  to  adopt  this  measure 
when  it  concerns  only  a  class,  absolutely  unfit, 
upon  whom  it  works  no  hardship  whatever, 
while  an  unspeakable  amount  of  benefit  is  at  once 
conferred  upon  the  eligible  and  upon  all  people? 

ARE  THE  JUNGLES  CALLING  HIM 
BACK? — In  his  great  lecture  on  "Rape"  at  the 
Citronelle,  Alabama  Chautauqua,  ex-Governor 
Vardaman,  in  his  dramatic  voice  cried:  "The 
jungle  is  calling  him  back,  the  jungle  is  calling 
him  back!" 

Now,  any  one  who  has  lived  among  the  Afri- 
cans in  their  native  country  can  testify  to  the  fact 
that  sexual  purity  is  one  of  the  finest  character- 
istics of  the  race.  The  writer  in  the  book,  "The 
Colored  American  from  Slavery  to  Honorable 
Citizenship,"  says: 

"Among  the  heathen  Africans,  whatever  else 
may  be  said  about  them,  the  world  will  have  to 
admit  that  they  are  the  purest  people,  outside  of 
polygamy,  in  their  connubial  and  virgin  morals, 


. 

OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  197 

upon  the  face  of  the  globe.  White  women  to 
my  personal  knowledge,  hundreds  of  miles  inte- 
riorward  in  Africa,  can  remain  in  their  midst  and 
teach  school  for  years  without  being  insulted, 
which  proves  to  a  demonstration' that  where  our 
natures  have  not  been  distorted  and  abnormal- 
ized we  are  the  most  honorable  custodians  of  fe- 
male virtue  now  under  Heaven. 

"It  is  not  the  nature  of  the  black  man  to  out- 
rage white  women,  unless  it  is  one  of  our  Ameri- 
can retrogessive  abnormalities,  which  has  possi- 
bly grown  out  of  the  degradation  entailed  upon 
us  by  the  singular  prejudice  and  degrading  con- 
ditions under  which  we  exist.  The  whole  range  of 
West  India  Islands  show  by  their  records  that 
only  one  rape  has  been  charged  upon  a  black 
man  since  1832,  and  that  occurred  twenty  years 
ago,  while  eleven  rapes  were  charged  upon  white 
men,  nine  of  which  were  perpetrated  upon  black 
women  and  two  upon  white  women." 

Then  the  writer  touches,  in  a  short  paragraph, 
upon  the  same  causes  to  which  we  attribute  the 
deplorable  state  of  affairs  we  find  in  these  states 

-"It  may,  however,  be  due  to  the  fact  that  there 
the  laws  and  institutions  recognize  the  black  man 
as  a  full-fledged  citizen  and  gentleman,  and  his 
pride  of  character  and  sense  of  dignity  are  not 
degraded,  and  self-respect  imparts  a  higher 
prompting  and  gentlemanly  bearing  to  his  man- 


I 

198  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

hood,  and  makes  him  a  better  citizen  and  inspires 
him  with  more  gallantry  and  nobler  principles. 
For  like  begets  like."  Then  he  goes  on  to  say: 
"While,  in  this  country,  we  are  degraded  by  the 
public  press,  degraded  by  the  courts  of  the  coun- 
try from  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  down, 
degraded  on  the  railroads  after  purchasing  first 
class  tickets,  degraded  at  the  hotels  and  barber 
shops,  degraded  in  many  states  at  the  ballot-box, 
degraded  in  some  of  the  large  cities  by  being 
compelled  to  rent  houses  in  the  alleys  and  the 
most  disreputable  streets.  Thus  we  are  degraded 
in  so  many  respects  that  all  the  starch  of  respec- 
tability is  taken  out  of  the  manhood  of  millions 
of  our  people,  and  as  degradation  begets  degra- 
dation, it  is  very  possible  that  in  many  instances 
we  are  guilty  of  doing  a  series  of  infamous  things 
that  we  would  not  be  guilty  of  if  our  environ- 
ments were  different." 

Abnormal  characters  of  both  races,  born  under 
the  "South's  policy."  will  necessarily  come  under 
the  law  of  restraint,  even  should  this  "policy"  be 
abolished  when  the  oligarchy  of  these  states  re- 
ceives its  final  sentence  of  political  death  by  the 
people.  But  we  predict  that  it  would  not  take, 
longer  than  a  few  generations  before  all  the  taint 
of  thi?  cursed  "policy"  would  have  vanished 
among  the  colored  people.  The  nature  of  these 
people  is  so  pliable  that  a  "right  policy"  will 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  199 

effect  them  as  favorably  as  a  wrong  one  has  ef- 
fected them  unfavorably. 

The  Negro  man  is  by  nature  a  gentleman, 
using  that  word  in  its  true  sense,  and  the  colored 
man  of  African  descent  will  prove  himself  a  gen- 
tleman if  environments  will  give  him  half  a 
gentleman's  chance. 


200  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  TEMPERAMENTS 

THE    MENTAL    TEMPERAMENT.— 

The  Mental  Temperament  has  its  constitutional 
basis  in  the  brain  and  nervous  system.  Its  pre- 
dominance in  the  organization  is  due  to  inherit- 
ance, and  if  moderately  inclined  to  be  prominent 
at  birth,  it  may  be  strengthened  by  training  and 
culture,  so  that  its  place  may  become  primary  in 
the  life  of  the  individual  thus  born.  It  is  char- 
acterized by  a  body  comparatively  slight,  and  a 
head  that  is  large  in  proportion  to  the  frame  that 
supports  it.  The  face  is  oval  and  forehead  large 
and  broad  in  the  upper  part.  The  physiognomy 
is  delicately  molded  if  not  sharply  drawn,  and 
the  countenance  is  prominent  and  expressive,  the 
skull  delicate  and  thin  and  the  hair  fine  and  soft. 
The  body  is  not  strongly  marked  as  in  the  Motive 
Temperament;  the  muscles  are  small  and  com- 
pact, being  adapted  to  rapid  actions  rather  than 
to  great  strength.  In  short,  the  whole  system  is 
high-strung. 

We  believe  that  we  meet  with  no  contradiction 
when  we  say  that  the  Mental  Temperament  is 
almost  an  unknown  quality  among  the  native 
African  Negroes.  There  may  be  a  few  excep- 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS 


201 


tions ;  if  there  are,  we  have  not  found  them.     We 
have  met  with  many  cases  of  the  Vital-Mental 


TEMPERAMENT  is  a  condition  of  the  mind.  When  certain 
brain  organs,  through  which  the  mental  faculties  of  the  mind  act, 
predominate,  then  we  have,  what  we  call,  either  a  Mental,  Motive 
or  Vital  Temperament.  We  illustrate  this  in  the  above  drawing, 
where  the  three  localities  of  the  Temperaments  are  shown.  When 
all  three  are  equally  developed  we  have  a  Harmonious  Tempera- 
ment. When  two  predominate  we  have,  for  instance,  the  Mental- 
Motive,  the  Motive-Vital  or  the  Vital-Mental  Temperament, 
These  facts  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  connection  with  the  follow- 
ing portraits  of  the  Temperaments  : 


202 


HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 


Temperament,  even  among  the  decidedly  dark, 
but  none  that  approached  the  purely  mental, 
save  in  those  who  were  of  pronounced  Caucasian 
blood,  like  Prof.  Atkins,  Olivia  D.  Washington 


OliVta.  D.  W 


Mental  Temperament.  Colored  Caucasian. 
Second  wife  of  Booker  T.  Washington,  de- 
ceased. 

and  others.  Phillis  Wheatly,  and  others  of  her 
type  may  have  represented  the  purely  mental. 
When  this  Temperament  predominates,  and 
there  is  a  good  degree  of  vitality  to  sustain  it, 
the  person  may  exhibit  remarkable  capabilities, 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


203 


for  the  reason  that  the  very  nature  of  this  Tem- 
perament indicates  a  special  activity  of  the 
mental  faculties  through  the  large,  refined,  culti- 
vated brain  organs.  When  the  upper  or  coronal 


Mental  Temperament,  Colored  Caucasian, 
Fine  scholar  and  instructor. 

organs  of  the  brain  are  largely  developed  and 
those  of  the  base  of  the  brain  but  moderately  so, 
the  tastes  and  delicacy  of  feelings,  and  refinement 
of  manners,  of  such  persons,  may  easily  be  dis- 
tinguished from  all  others.  Such  are  rarely 
found  among  the  criminal  class,  and  when  they 


204  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

are  they  owe  their  degradation  to  the  most  ter- 
rible adverse  circumstances.  Persons  of  this 
Temperament  may  be  found  in  sedentary  occu- 
pations which  require  more  brain  than  bodily 
exercise.  Teachers,  artists,  authors,  and  the  var- 
ious other  professions  which  require  brain-work 
are  filled  by  them.  Women  who  have  this  Tem- 
perament lack  plumpness  and  the  delicately 
rounded,  symmetrical  figure,  so  much  admi  red  by 
men  in  women,  yet  they  have  a  beauty  of  delicacy 
and  refinement  that  eharms  and  attracts  all  men 
of  a  robust,  rough,  vigorous  constitution.  This 
is  well  illustrated  in  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Sumner,  chap- 
ter seventeen.  It  is  apparent  that  this  class  of 
white  women  are  on  the  increase  in  this  country, 
and  while  they  are  charming,  intellectual  com- 
panions, they  can,  under  most  maternal  circum- 
stances, not  become  the  mothers  of  fine,  vigorous, 
healthy  children.  Only  by  scientific  crossing 
with  robust  constitutions,  in  which  the  Vital 
Temperament  predominates,  can  they  become  a 
blessing  to  posterity  and  true  wives  and  mothers. 
And  the  same  fact  holds  true  in  the  case  of  Ro- 
land, Ph.D.,  whom  we  illustrate  and  describe 
in  chapter  sixteen.  In  connection  with  the  illus- 
trations here  given  we  have  named  these  ex- 
amples, as  they  fully  convey  our  idea  of  the  Men- 
tal Temperament  in  whites,  and  how,  by  scien- 
tific intermarriage,  these  top-heavy  conditions 


OR    THE    FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  205 

may  be  beautifully  modified  in  their  progeny,  if 
it  is  so  desired. 

THE  VITAL  TEMPERAMENT.— The 
Vital  Temperament  has  its  constitutional  basis 
in  the  nutritive  system,  that  is  in  the  organs  of 


DR.  JOSEPH  C.  PRICE 


Vital  Temperament,  Afro- American.     Great  ed- 
ucator and  noted  orator. 

digestion,  respiration  and  circulation.  The 
stature  is  generally  above  the  medium,  and  the 
chest  is  full,  the  abdomen  rounded,  the  limbs 
plump  and  tapering,  and  the  hands  and  feet  rela- 
tively small,  while  the  neck  is  comparatively 


206  HOLM'S   RACE    ASSIMILATION 

short  and  thick  and  the  shoulders  broad  and 
round.  The  head  and  face  correspond  with  the 
other  parts  of  the  body,  in  that  both  are  well 
filled  out  with  adipose  tissue,  while  the  expres- 
sion is  cheerful,  frank  and  happy. 

In  the  Vital  Temperament  we  often  find  rep- 
resented the  mulatto  and  other  fairer  breeds  as 
well  as  the  dark  and  full-blood  Negro.  In  those 
of  a  fair  color  we  may  sometimes  find  eyes  of 
gray-blue  or  brown  color  and  hair  of  brown  or 
red  tinge,  but  the  darker  or  black  generally  have 
the  close,  kinky  hair  and  black  eyes.  In  the  dark 
or  black,  bilious  elements  enter  that  confer  more 
physical  endurance  than  is  possessed  by  the  fairer 
ones,  or  the  sanguine  type  of  the  Vital ;  but  the 
latter  class,  however,  possess  more  activity  and 
sprightlines^  and  consequently  are  the  moving 
spirits  in  the  American  Negro  race — those  who 
have  the  most  push,  the  ability  to  push,  and  push 
the  hardest.  If  we  compare  them  with  the  full- 
blood  Caucasian,  they  are  found  to  possess,  for 
the  most  part,  more  endurance;  and  if  their  san- 
itary conditions  and  mode  of  life  were  improved, 
they  would  be  decidedly  so.  There  is  no  race 
of  people  on  earth  that  can  adapt  themselves  to 
and  stand  as  varied  a  condition  of  life  as  the  Af- 
rican Negro  and  his  descendants  of  mixed  blood. 
The  absolute  squalor  and  disregard  for  all  rules 
of  health  and  moral  stimulation  in  many  homes 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  207 

of  the  poor  southern  Negro,  would  undermine 
and  exterminate  our  Caucasian  race;  yet  the 
breeding  capacity  of  these  people  is  tremendous, 
and  were  it  not  for  the  deplorable  condition  of 
life  among  them,  that  is  the  cause  of  removing 
so  many  thousands  annually  by  consumption  and 
other  diseases,  they  would  ultimately  take  the 
entire  South  by  sheer  numbers.  Whether  they 
will  or  not  is  yet  an  open  question. 

The  Vital  Temperament  seems  to  predominate 
in  the  race,  therefore  it  is  the  strongest,  though 
not  the  longest  lived  people,  whose  descendants 
will,  without  doubt,  be  numerous  throughout  this 
world  when  the  white-skinned  people  have  be- 
come extinct.  We  find  in  a  book  called,  "Self- 
Instructor  in  Phrenology  and  Physiology,"  by 
the  well  known  authorities,  O.  S.  and  L.  N. 
Fowler,  revised  by  the  not  less  famous  Nelson 
Sizer,  the  following  statement:  "All  black  an- 
imals are  powerful,  of  which  the  bear,  Morgan 
horse,  black  snake,  etc.,  furnish  examples.  So 
black  fruits,  as  blackberry,  black  raspberry, 
whortle  berry,  black  Tartarian  cherry,  etc.,  are 
highly  flavored  and  full  of  rich  juices.  So  also 
the  dark  races,  as  Indians  and  Africans  are 
strong,  muscular,  and  very  tough." 
•  The  Vital  Temperament  is  most  common 
among  the  colored  women,  while  among  the 
white  American  females  the  Mental  Tempera- 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


MotWe.     '    i      Balanced. 

TEMPERAMENTS. 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  209 

ment  is  fast  displacing  it,  and  consequently  is 
disqualifying  them  as  breeders  of  a  superior  pos- 
terity. Excessive  mental  training  saps  the  con- 
stitution of  its  sacred,  magnetic,  feminine  quali- 
ties, and  leaves  the  subject  in  a  cold,  reasoning 
atmosphere,  instead  of  in  the  warm,  attractive, 
magnetic  feminality.  No  truly  superior  man  of 
ability  looks  for  an  encyclopedia,  a  library  or 
bookstore,  in  the  brain  of  a  woman,  when  looking 
for  the  mother  of  his  future  children.  The 
woman  of  today  who  is  so  top-heavy  or  exces- 
sively loaded  with  these  things,  that  it  over- 
shadows and  shrivels  her  feminality,  or  genera- 
tive functions,  is  not  the  fit  mother  of  a  superior 
race.  Education  in  women  is  not  only  desirable 
but  necessary,  even  if  only  for  congenial  compan- 
ionship to  her  husband,  but  if  it  robs  her  of  the 
sexual  or  animal  qualities  necessary  for  the  per- 
petuation and  improvement  of  the  human  race, 
then  it  were  better  if  she  remained  illiterate  and 
thereby  fulfilled  her  mission  and  be  blessed  by 
succeeding  generations.  Excessive  mental  de- 
velopment also  retards  marriage,  and  often  the 
best  years  of  a  woman's  bearing  period  slips  by 
before  she  enters  the  state  of  motherhood. 
Negro  and  colored  Caucasian  women  of  the 
Vital  Temperament  ripen  young,  marry  young, 
and  leave  off  bearing  younger  than  those  of  a 
Mental  or  Motive  Temperament.  They  of  the 

14 


210  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

Vital  Temperament  are  very  passionate,  both 
men  and  women,  but  changeable  in  mood ;  lively, 
cheerful,  amiable,  frank,  and  candid,  fond  of 
good  living,  play  and  sport;  and  at  the  same  time 
apt  to  fall  into  habits  of  eating  and  drinking  that 
are  injurious.  Thus,  with  strong  social  affections, 
they  are  more  liable  to  irregularities  in  the  way 
of  frivolity  and  dissipation  than  persons  of  the 
Motive  Temperament.  When,  however,  the 
moral  principles  are  developed  to  restrain  or 
regulate  their  conduct,  they  generally  lead  very 
happy,  useful  lives,  enjoying  and  promoting  en- 
joyment. 

THE  MOTIVE  TEMPERAMENT.— The 
Motive  Temperament  has  its  constitutional  basis 
in  the  bony  and  muscular  system.  We  find  it  in 
some  Negroes,  but  most  generally  leaning  more 
or  less  toward  the  Vital.  The  Motive  Temper- 
ament is  the  result  of  climatic  and  geographical 
conditions.  We  find  it  most  fully  represented  in 
people  of  high  or  mountainous  latitudes,  but 
rarely  met  with  in  low,  hot  climates.  All  fight- 
ing races  are  good  representatives  of  this  Tem- 
perament; the  North  American  Indian  being  an 
excellent  example,  as  are  also  the  various  Euro- 
pean and  some  Asiatic  races.  But  as  we  have 
just  intimated,  we  find  the  Motive  Temperament 
in  the  Negro — not  the  Roman  nose  and  promi- 
nent features  of  the  Caucasian  or  the  Indian  rep- 


OR    THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


211 


Motive  Temperament.    Colored  Caucasian.     Prominent  Divine 
of  the  A.  M.  E.  church. 


212  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

resentatives ;  it  being  a  class  by  itself,  of  which 
the  Jap  and  Chinaman  are  akin.  Should  we 
select  an  army  for  a  long,  desperate  and  fierce 
conflict,  we  would  invariably  choose  one  from 
the  Negro  or  Mongolian  races,  and  our  first 
choice  would  be  the  Negro.  The  Negro  and 
Mongolian  representatives  have  not  the  com- 
bative and  other  fighting  qualifications  as  prom- 
inently developed  as  is  found  in  some  other  races, 
but  W7hen  thoroughly  trained  as  soldiers,  they 
have  a  toughness  and  tenacity  in  battle  that  chal- 
lenges every  other  race  of  fighters  in  the  world. 
The  Jap  has,  we  think,  already  demonstrated  this 
scientific  fact,  and  give  the  Negro  training  and  a 
fair  chance  and  he  will  do  the  same;  and  every 
race  and  clan,  including  the  proud  Anglo-Saxon, 
would  stand  aghast,  bewildered  and  confounded, 
with  open  eye  and  mouth,  like  a  suckling  babe! 
Let  the  American  Negro  and  colored  Caucasian 
take  better  care  of  their  health,  refrain  from  all 
immoral,  debilitating  influences,  lift  up  the 
moral  standard  of  their  women,  and  then,  some 
day,  they  will  be  fully  equipped  to  demonstrate 
their  power,  and  reap  laurels  that  will  set  upon 
their  kinky-haired  head  with  eternal  glory  and 
honor.  The  shambling,  shiftless,  snivelling  be- 
ing of  today  may  have  \vithin  him  the  making  of 
a  man  of  tomorrow.  It  is  all  a  matter  of  latent 
possibilities  that  count  in  the  future  of  a  race, 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  213 

and  not  the  high-strung,  overwrought  capabili- 
ties of  today  that  may  break  tomorrow,  and  fall 
to  the  ground  exhausted. 

There  is  a  height,  a  great  height,  that  man  can 
reach  if  he  will ;  but  if  once  reached  he  must,  by 
the  unalterable  law  of  growth  and  decay,  stub 
his  toe  on  the  pinnacle  of  fame,  and  fall  back  to 
mother  earth  from  whence  he  rose.  This  is  the 
way  Nature  maintains  equilibrium  at  whatever 
cost.  The  wonderful  blending  of  the  various 
branches  of  the  Aryan  race  with  itself  and  other 
races  in  America,  produces  results  never  hereto- 
fore attained  in  the  history  of  man.  America  is 
the  battle  ground  of  the  races.  It  is  the  place 
assigned  by  our  all-wise  Ruler  to  be  the  gathering 
place  for  all  people,  and  the  feeble  cry  raised 
against  the  amalgamation  of  the  races  is  but  the 
whine  of  past  glory  that  dies  hard.  The  Cau- 
casian race  yet  stands  supreme.  If  this  people, 
who  is  destined  to  elevate  all  mankind,  fears  the 
inroad  of  foreign  blood,  it  battles  against  its 
highest  interests,  casts  a  shadow  of  disapproval 
upon  its  path  of  unsurpassed  triumphs,  and  tolls 
the  bell  of  its  own  doom.  Japan  was  a  barbarous 
country  not  long  since;  today  it  demands  the  re- 
spect and  cordial  treatment  of  every  nation,  and 
woe  to  the  one  who  gives  it  not.  The  Afro- 
American  has  the  same  constitutional  qualities 
yet  undeveloped,  and  to  continue  the  enmity  be- 


214 


HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 


Mulatto.     Motive-Mental  Temperament. 


OR   THE  "FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  215 

tween  the  races  indefinitely,  would  prove  fatal 
to  all.  To  insure  the  continued  supremacy  of 
the  Caucasian  in  America,  it  is  not  only  advis- 
able, but  necessary,  to  absorb  all  the  other  races 
who  have  come  here,  even  at  the  expense  of  the 
loss  of  pure  blood  thus  incurred.  A  mixed  race 
is  the  greatest  race ;  none  excepted.  The  Motive 
Temperament  is  characterized  in  the  Caucasian 
by  large  bones,  strong,  hard  muscles,  prominent 
joints,  and  an  angular  figure;  and  the  height  is 
rather  above  the  average.  In  the  Negro  the 
shoulders  are  broad,  the  abdomen  is  moderately 
full,  the  face  oblong,  the  cheek  bones  rather  high, 
the  jaw  large,  the  teeth  strong,  the  features  in 
general  rugged,  the  nose  large  and  broad,  and 
very  little  superfluous  adipose  tissue  is  found  in 
his  face  or  body.  The  head  is  rather  broad  from 
ear  to  ear  and  high  in  the  region  of  Firmness  and 
Self-Esteem,  while  the  forehead  of  the  blackest 
is  generally  receding,  and  those  of  mixed  breed 
may  be  more  or  less  prominently  developed  in 
the  Receptive,  Reflective  and  Cognative,  above 
the  average  Negro  of  little  foreign  blood. 


216  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

CHAPTER  X 

THE  BRAIN  AND  THE  MIND 

THE  MAKING  OF  A  PERFECT  MAN. 
— Nature  has  paramount  objects  in  the  crossing 
of  the  various  peoples  and  races  of  marked  dis- 
similarities, physically  and  mentally.  These 
objects  are;  first,  to  elevate  the  lower;  second, 
to  produce  a  finer,  more  symmetrical  body;  third, 
to  produce  a  finer-grained,  higher  developed 
brain,  through  which  the  mental  faculties  of  the 
omnipotent,  omnipresent,  omnitient  Mind 
(God)  can  act  more  freely;  and  finally,  to  bring 
about  equilibrium. 

Thomas  Martin  McWhinney,  D.  D.,  in  "Rea- 
son and  Revelation,"  published  in  1886,  touches 
upon  this  profound  thought  when  he  says: 
"Man's  mission  on  earth  is  to  find  out  the  divine 
methods,  and  to  bring  himself  into  harmony  with 
their  administration.  And  if  through  indiffer- 
ence or  stupidity  he  fails  to  find  out  God's  or- 
dained means  of  development  and  glory,  but 
substitutes  those  of  his  own  foolish  imagination, 
then,  at  best,  he  can  only  hope  to  be  evolved  into 
an  imbecile  or  a  monstrosity.  The  infinite  Cre- 
ator's ideal  man  will  never  be  forthcoming.  *  * 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPA.RD'S   SPOTS 


217 


He  that  would  make  life  a  grand  success,  death  a 
triumphant  victory,  and  heaven  a  glorious  real- 
ity, must  consent  to  the  fact  that  his  chief  busi- 
ness on  earth  is,  by  persistent  strivings,  to  bring 
himself  into  harmony  with  the  administration  of 


From  a  drawing  by  the  author  many  years  ago. 

heaven's  plan  of  bringing  him  out  into  full  stature 
of  a  perfect  man.  God's  method  of  making  a 
symmetrical  and  perfect  man  ever  was,  is  now, 
and  we  are  led  to  believe,  always  will  be  the 
same." 


218  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

That  any  race  of  men  can  be  "bred-up"  men- 
tally and  physically,  as  well  as  any  domesticated 
animal,  is  self-evident. 

Go  throughout  the  South  today,  where  the 
promiscuous  mixing  of  the  Caucasian  and  Afri- 
can has  taken  place  to  such  a  bewildering  extent, 
and  you  will  soon  see  evidences  of  this  fact; 
though  by  many  of  the  black  race  it  may  be  de- 
nied, and  also  by  the  white  race,  the  Afro-Amer- 
ican family  has  thus  been  evolved  into  its  present 
state,  and  the  process  is  not  yet  finished.  And 
the  question  cannot  but  occur  to  us  at  this  time, 
that  if  henceforth  this  mixing  would  be  legally 
and  intelligently  conducted,  disrobing  it  of  all 
the  baseness  attached  thereto  at  the  present  time, 
a  marvelous  stride  for  human  betterment  would 
transpire,  beyond  our  wildest  computation. 

In  the  following  pages  we  shall  discuss  in  a 
plain,  fearless  manner,  how  better  results  may  be 
attained  in  the  crossing  of  the  two  races,  scientifi- 
cally conducted,  displacing  the  illicit  mixing  in 
the  dark  and  its  concomitant  evils. 

BRAIN  AND  MIND.— A  certain  noted 
physician  of  the  North  said  some  time  ago,  when 
discussing  the  Negro  question,  that  the  skull  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  development  of  the  mind; 
and  that  the  heads  of  children  could  be  shaped 
when  young  as  desired  without  mental  impair- 
ment. Now,  this  process  of  reasoning  should  be 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  219 

relegated  to  the  past.  It  may  seem  plausible 
enough  to  those  who  believe  that  brain  is  just 
brain,  as  a  city-bred  man  may  look  upon  a  bushel 
of  potatoes  as  mere  potatoes,  without  regard  to 
variety  or  quality.  We  say  in  plain  English  that 
brain  is  more  than  mere  matter.  Quality  is  of 
more  importance  than  quantity.  For  instance,  the 
brain  of  Booker  T.  Washington  is  infinitely  finer 
in  quality  than  the  brain  of  Sam,  whose  like- 
ness appears  in  this  book;  yet  the  brain  of  Sam 
may  weigh  more  than  that  of  Washington.  A 
simple  comparison  would  be  fine  flour  to  coarse 
sawdust.  Yet  such  educated  colored  men  as  Dr. 
H.  Roger  Williams,  of  Mobile,  Alabama,  have 
argued  with  the  author  that  a  wild  savage  in  the 
jungles  of  Africa  is  as  capable  of  mental  develop- 
ment as  any  man  of  any  race.  The  jungles  have 
produced  a  few  remarkable  characters,we  do  not 
dispute,  but  we  contend  that  it  takes  a  certain 
amount  of  breeding-up,  of  at  least  several  gen- 
erations, before  a  true  quality  and  capability  can 
be  produced;  and  it  is  universally  conceded  by 
unbiased  students  of  anthropology  that  if  this 
breeding-up  process  is  accompanied  with  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  foreign  blood  of  a  superior  and 
similar  kind,  the  process  is  more  rapid  and  satis- 
factory. 

The  brain  contains  at  least  forty-two  known 
organs  or  centers,  and  the  mind  of  as  many  fac- 


220  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

ulties  that  act  through  them.  Every  one  of  these 
mind  faculties  acts  only  through  the  correspond- 
ing brain  organ,  and  if  this  brain  organ  is  small 
or  undeveloped,  the  corresponding  mind  faculty 
can  only  act  through  it  in  a  limited,  imperfect 
manner;  or,  if  certain  brain  organs  do  not  exist, 
as  is  the  case  in  lower  animals,  the  corresponding 
mind  faculties  cannot  manifest  themselves  at  all. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  reasoning  brain  organs 
which  are  absent  in  lower  animals,  deprive  them 
of  the  corresponding  mind  faculties  which  alone 
can  reason.  Mind  is  not  matter,  hence  it  (He) 
can  only  manifest  itself  through  the  organs  of 
the  material  brain,  such  as  is  found  in  animal 
life.  Now,  if  the  shape  of  the  head  and  the 
quality  of  the  brain  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
manifestation  of  the  mind  through  it,  all  brains 
in  man  and  animal,  of  the  same  weight,  would 
receive  the  same  amount  of  mentation.  In  other 
words,  if  brain  organs  did  not  exist,  animals  like 
the  elephant,  with  plenty  of  brain,  but  only  a 
limited  number  of  brain  centers,  would  be  cap- 
able of  as  great  intellectuality  as  man.  It  is  a 
psychological  fact  that  the  mind  (the  united 
mental  faculties)  needs  no  development,  and 
thinking  of  it,  independent  of  the  brain  organs 
through  which  it  acts,  our  conception  of  it 
(Him)  is  naught  but  perfect.  The  united  mind 
elements,  independent  of  the  material,  are  omni- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  221 

potent,  omniscient,  omnipresent — God;  but  they 
have  never  manifested  themselves  through  any 
material  brain  in  a  perfect  manner,  unless  it  was 
through  the  brain  of  the  Christ,  who  is  reputed 
to  have  been  "God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  We 
experience  only  imperfect  manifestations  of  the 
mind  in  man  at  his  best,  yet  we  know  of  no  phys- 
ical organism  as  perfect  as  the  human  brain. 
The  mind  is  the  soul,  the  soul  is  life,  and  life  is 
God. 

RESULTS  WHEN  MENTAL  DISSIMI- 
LARITIES CROSS.— We  present  a  drawing 
in  this  chapter,  which  is  the  combined  profiles 
of  three  people,  representing  mother,  son  and 
father  The  mother,  a  simple  Negress,  who 
was  once  a  slave  in  the  household  of  the  man 
who  is  the  father  of  her  son,  is  a  sample  of  a 
common  type  West  Afrfcan;  and  for  that  matter 
we  do  not  consider  the  father  a  very  desirable 
white  specimen.  He  had  a  dominant,  sensitive, 
cunning,  jealous  disposition,  she  had  not,  and 
consequently  the  crossing  produced  an  admir- 
able, almost  harmonious  brain  development  in 
their  progeny. 

Nowuwe  have  made  this  drawing  of  these 
people;  first,  to  show  in  a  definite  manner  that 
even  the  lowest  type  of  the  American  Negro  has 
in  the  past  often  produced  fine  results  when 
crossed  with  a  strong  Caucasian  of  a  Mental 


222  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

Motive  Temperament.  Secondly,  we  also  de- 
sire to  show  that  the  shape  of  the  head,  the  thick- 
ness of  the  skull,  and  the  fineness  or  quality  of 
the  brain,  has  everything  to  do  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  intellect.  Had  it  not,  Betsey  would 


Results  when  Mental  Dissimilarities  cross. 


be  just  as  capable  of  becoming  a  doctor  of  divin- 
ity as  her  son,  Dr.  Sumner.  Had  she  been 
trained,  mentally,  from  youth  up,  her  thick  re- 
ceding skull  would  have  changed  perceptably, 
directly  in  the  upper  portion  of  the  forehead, 
and  the  brain  organs  through  which  Causality 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  223 

and  Comparison  act,  would  have  undergone  a 
process  of  refining  and  growth,  as  well  as  the 
other  brain  centers;  but  fifty  years  of  incessant 
mental  gymnastics  would  not  have  produced  the 
results  we  see  in  her  offspring  by  Summerfield. 
SKULL  AND  BRAIN  GROWTH.— We 
do  not  mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  a  full- 
blooded  African  people  of  low  order  cannot 
progress,  mentally.  It  is  true,  their  skull  is 
thick  and  of  cast-iron  quality  and  hard  to  ex- 
pand, but  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  physi- 
cal body  is  constantly  changing,  that  is,  old  tis- 
sues waste  away  and  new  ones  take  their  place, 
and  this  process  makes  a  perceptable  skull- 
growth  possible,  even  in  the  short.space  of  two 
years,  and  consequently  also  the  brain  under- 
neath it.  Had  Betsey  received  mental  training 
and  married  a  Negro  man  of  like  training,  their 
children  would  have  been  a  decided  improve- 
ment, mentally;  and  if  such  a  process  is  con- 
tinued for  several  generations,  their  expansion 
of  the  skull,  and  the  refinement  of  the  entire  or- 
ganism would  equal  that  of  any  other  people 
who  have  gone  through  a  similar  process.  Such 
a  course  must  necessarily  be  pursued  in  some 
parts  of  Africa,  but  here  nearly  all  Negroes  have 
gone  through  a  slight,  and  many  through  a  full 
process  of  mental  growth,  or,  more  correctly, 
physical  refinement;  and  as  6,000,000,  are  of 


224  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

pronounced  Caucasian  blood,  and  many  are 
highly  cultured,  the  only  rational  and  ethical 
thing  to  do,  and  that  the  two  races  will  finally 
be  compelled  to  do,  is  to  take  each  other  by  the 
hand  and  say :  "Your  blood  flows  in  my  veins, 
and  my  people  are  yours,  and  your  people  are 
mine — 'United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall.' ' 

First,  to  produce  a  higher  and  better  type  of 
man;  secondly,  to  infuse  new  blood  into  a  top- 
heavy,  depleted  portion  of  the  white  American ; 
and  thirdly,  to  prevent  future  serious  rupture 
between  these  related  peoples,  by  instituting  a 
tie  that  binds  for  time  and  eternity. 

You  say  this  is  irrational,  unscientific,  out- 
rageous! we  say  that  it  is  not.  The  plain  state- 
ments just  made  are  based  upon  the  unalterable, 
unchangeable  natural  laws  of  our  Creator.  We 
hold  ourselves  responsible  for  every  statement 
we  make,  and  we  are  prepared  to  back  it  all  up 
with  a  multitude  of  undisputable  facts;  and 
truth  must  finally  triumph  over  every  falsehood. 
We  have  stated  above  that  a  slow  process  of 
mental  development  must  necessarily  take  place 
in  Africa,  among  the  natives;  yet  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  the  fact,  as  mentioned  in  the  first 
chapter  of  this  book,  that  foreign  blood  and  in- 
fluence are  reaching  into  the  very  heart  of  Africa, 
and  will,  within  a  very  short  time,  revolutionize 
conditions  there.  We  predict  that  fifty  years 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  225 

hence  there  will  not  be  a  naked  savage  roaming 
the  jungles  of  Africa.  A  network  of  railroads 
will  penetrate  the  darkest  spot,  and  bring  with 
it  Caucasian  civilization  and  industry,  confirm- 
ing the  plan  of  the  ages  that  all  people  will  be- 
come a  united  family. 

CRANIAL  CAPACITY  OF  THE  RACES. 
— It  is  not  easy  to  procure  the  brains  of  the  var- 
ious race  branches  for  the  purpose  of  weighing 
and  comparing  them.  The  following  table  has 
been  published  at  various  times,  and  is  no  doubt 
a  true  estimation  of  the  cranial  cavity.  Hun- 
dreds of  skulls  were  collected  of  the  various  races 
and  filled  with  dry  sand,  which  is  given  as  fol- 
lows in  cubic  inches. 
Races.  Cubic  Inches. 

Swedes   100.00 

Anglo-Saxons    96.00 

Finns  95-oo 

Anglo-Americans 94-3O 

Esquimaux    86.32 

North  American  Indians 84.00 

Native  Africans 83.70 

Mexicans   81.70 

American  Negroes 80.80 

Peruvians  and  Hottentots 75-3O 

Australians   75«oo 

Gorilla,  adult 34-5° 

Idiot  22.57 


15 


226  HOLM'S   RACE -ASSIMILATION 

WHAT  INDICATES  MENTAL  POWER 
-The  weight  of  the  human  brain  varies  from 
40  to  70  ounces;  that  of  idiots  from  12  to  36 
ounces.  It  appears  that  neither  the  absolute  nor 
relative  .size  of  the  cerebrum,  but  the  amount  of 
gray  matter  it  contains,  is  the  criterion  of  men- 
tal power.  While  a  large  cerebrum  generally 
indicates  the  presence  of  more  gray  matter  than 
a  small  one,  yet  it  is  ascertained  that  the  gray 
substance  depends  upon  the  number,  and  depth 
of  the  convolutions  of  the  brain  and  the  deeper 
its  fissures,  the  more  abundant  is  this  tissue. 
The  gray  matter  of  the  brain  seems  to  be  the 
source  of  thought,  or  the  physical  substance 
through  which  the  mind  can  generate  thought, 
while  the  white  substance  is  the  reservoir  of  im- 
pressions. While  quantity  generally  indicates 
power,  quality  is  the  absolute  source  of  mental 
power,  and  as  we  say  in  this  chapter  under  the 
heading,  Brain  and  Mind,  it  takes  a  certain 
amount  of  cross-breeding  and  breeding-up  to 
obtain  the  highest  mental  quality.  Soft,  fine 
hair,  fine  intellectual  features,  and  a  gen- 
eral physical  refinement,  invariably  accompany 
mental  power.  . 

THE  SIZE  OF  THE  HEAD.— We  never 
rely  on  the  size  of  the  head  as  an  indication  of 
special  mental  capacity,  unless  we  find  quality 
along  with  size.  When  we  have  both  quality 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  227 

and  size,  we  have  a  certain  indication  of  power. 
Though  tape  measurements  taken  around  the 
head,  from  Eventuality  to  Parental  Love,  gives 
some  idea  of  the  size  of  the  brain,  the  fact  that 
some  heads  are  round,  others  long,  some  low,  and 
others  high,  so  modifies  the  measurements  that 
they  do  not  convey  any  very  correct  idea  of  the 
actual  quantity  of  the  brain. 

The  following  measurements  were  given  out 
some  years  ago  by  the  Fowlers  and  others,  and 
are  generally  considered  as  right: 

Inches  to  occipital    Opening  of  ear  to 

Circumference  of     Adult  weight  in          spine  below  Par-       opening    of    ear 
head  in  inches.  pounds.  ental  Love.  over  Firmness. 

19  100  9  9 

19^  110  10}4  10  to  11 

20  120  lift  11  to  12 

21  130  12  12y2 

22  150  U  Ul/2 

23  175  15  15J^ 

24  195  15  16 

Female  heads  are  about  half  an  inch  to  an 
inch  smaller  than  the  figures  given  above.  Their 
weight  is  also  considerably  less.  The  heads  of 
children  are  larger  as  compared  with  the  weight 
of  their  body. 


228  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

CHAPTER  XI 
DISSEMINATION  AND  ATTRACTION 

DISSIMILARITIES  AFFILIATE  FOR 
EVOLUTIONARY  GROWTH.— The  nat- 
ural law  of  dissemination  was  in  operation  when 
the  African  Negro  was  transported  to  American 
soil.  Camille  Flammarion,  the  eminent 
French  astronomer,  says,  "Progress  is  an  abso- 
lute, irresistable  law."  The  law  of  progress  and 
dissemination  are  identical.  This  same  law  we 
find  in  operation  in  all  history,  ever  since  dis- 
similarities existed.  It  is  true,  like  attracts  like. 
"Birds  of  a  feather  flock  together;"  yet  all  birds 
of  the  same  species  differ,  males  from  the  fe- 
males. The  author  has  often  watched  fowls  in 
the  selection  of  their  favorite  mates.  He  once 
obtained  three  high-bred,  imported  geese.  The 
gander  had  been  mated  with  one  of  the  females 
for  several  years.  He  then  obtained  a  native 
male  and  female,  much  smaller  and  inferior. 
The  two  ganders  at  once  engaged  in  a  fierce  com- 
bat until  they  had  to  be  separated  to  keep  the 
native  from  killing  the  fullblood.  As  soon  as 
separated  the  high-bred  gander  proceeded  to 
court  the  native  goose  desperately,  When  the 
ganders  were  again  put  in  the  same  pen  the  bat- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  229 

tie  continued.  The  native  gander  had  to  be 
killed.  The  high-bred  gander  continued  his 
loVe  for  the  native  goose,  and  entirely  neglected 
the  two  beautiful  females  of  his  own  breed. 
Does  Nature  make  a  mistake?  We  think  not. 
The  offspring  of  the  two  geese  were  larger  than 
the  female  and  hardier  than  the  male.  The  na- 
tive cattle  are  now  bred  up  in  precisely  the  same 
manner  throughout  the  South. 

All  animals  mix  only  with  their  kind.  All. 
races  and  tribes  of  men  have,  in  the  past,  mixed 
with  their  kind  more  exclusively  than  with  any 
other.  In  the  environment  of  primitive  man  it 
could  not  be  otherwise.  There  are  yet  obscure  sav- 
age tribes  in  some  parts  of  Africa  and  elsewhere, 
where  it  is  not  considered  wrong  and  where  no 
evil  effects  follow  close  family  marriages.  But 
in  all  such  environments  there  is  no  advance- 
ment whatever. 

The  dark  races  have  as  much  right  to  mix 
with  the  white  race  as  it  has  with  the  dark  or 
black.  Nature  does  not  forbid  such  comming- 
ling of  racial  blood,  because  all  blood  of  all 
races  is  alike. 

Bishop  Alexander  Walters  well  said  in  the 
conference  on  the  status  of  the  American  Negro, 
held  in  New  York  in  May,  1909: 

"In  the  scriptures  we  read  that  the  man 
(Adam)  called  his  wife's  name  Eve  because  she 


230  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

was  the  mother  of  all  living  (to  live).  St.  Paul, 
the  eminent  divine  and  philosopher,  has  declared 
that  'God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  the  n*a- 
tions  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,'  and  the  best  authority  on  physiological 
subjects  declare  that  there  is  not  a  particle  of 
difference  in  human  blood.  And  yet  blood  is 
one  of  the  most  varied  substances  in  nature.  In 
no  two  kinds  of  animals  is  it  alike." 

As  the  blood  of  an  African  cannot  be  distin- 
guished from  that  of  a  Caucasian,  it  follows  in 
the  course  of  correct  reasoning  that  both  races 
have  a  common  origin,  as  already  inferred,  that 
environment  alone  has  caused  the  difference  we 
observe  today.  And  as  Nature  demands  a  dif- 
ference of  physical  and  mental  make-up  in  mar- 
ried persons,  the  mating  of  extreme  opposites,  as 
in  the  Hamitic  and  Japhetic,  produces  the  great- 
est physical  pleasure  and  mutual  love  between 
the  sexes  thus  mated.  This  is  the  reason  why 
offspring  are  possible  between  the  colored  and 
white  men  and  women  when  neither  can  produce 
with  their  own. 

In  our  inquiry  we  heard  an  intelligent  colored 
woman  say,  who  has  a  white  husband:  "Mix- 
ing is  so  sweet,  how  foolish  both  races  are  to  try 
to  deprive  us  of  this  God-given  privilege." 

Dr.  J.  W.  Bate  says  in  his  book,  "Marriage 
Guide,"  "It  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  a  dif- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  231 

ference  of  physical  temperament  between  mar- 
ried persons  is  conducive  not  only  to  mutual  af- 
fection, but  to  fertility.  Nature  appears  to  de- 
sire marriages  between  different  families  and  na- 
tions, because  such  crossings  of  the  various  races 
improve  and  invigorate  the  species.  Humboldt 
and  others  have  observed  that  the  offspring  of 
Europeans  and  Ethiopians  are  peculiarly  robust 
and  active.  From  numerous  observations  of  a 
similar  nature,  he  argues  that  the  best  mode  of 
eradicating  hereditary  diseases,  gout,  scrofula, 
consumption,  epilepsy,  madness,  etc.,  in  their  in- 
cipient stages,  is  by  the  commixture  of  the  species 
in  marriage;  the  mutual  antagonism  of  physical 
elements  thus  blended  preventing  the  transmis- 
sion of  disease  to  the  next  generation. 

"The  mental  weakness  of  the  European  royal 
families,  who  have  been  for  generations  the  pro- 
duct of  marriages  almost  incestuous  in  the  degree 
of  consanguinity  of  parents,  is  strongly  confirma- 
tory of  the  truth  of  these  principles.  Walker, 
in  his  admirable  and  interesting  work  "On  In- 
termarriage," proves  beyond  the  possibility  of 
caval,  that  insanity,  idiocy,  and  numerous  phys- 
ical ailments  occur  four  times  above  the  average 
proportion  in  the  offspring  of  "family  mar- 
riages." When  persisted  in  for  some  genera- 
tions the  race  usually  becomes  extinct.  Nor  is 
this  confined  to  man  alone — the  rule  extends. 


232  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

from  man  downward  through  the  whole  realm 
of  animated  nature." 

It  is  astonishing,  indeed,  that  the  various 
races  in  America  should  make  any  serious  at- 
tempt to  "keep  the  races  separate,"  when  all 
must  live  side  by  side  and  mix  in  their  every-day 
lives  as  one  people.  All  breathe  the  same  at- 
mosphere of  liberty  and  all  ought  to  enjoy  it 
alike.  It  is  here  not  a  question  of  the  obscure 
savage  and  the  refined  civilized.  All  forces 
here  in  operation  now  promote,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  promote,  racial  admixture. 

Savage  tribes  do  not  mix  as  readily  as  civil- 
ized with  the  savage.  Nature's  object  in  mixing 
is  growth;  where  that  cannot  be  obtained  there 
is  no  commingling.  The  civilized  have  always 
mixed  with  and  absorbed  the  savage,  and  this 
process  will  continue  until  all  races  have  been 
elevated. 

We  find  men  who  will  reason  that  the  law  of 
attraction,  for  the  preservation  of  species  is  un- 
alterable, and  must  not  be  violated.  That  like 
must  affiliate  with  like,  at  least  as  far  as  man  is 
concerned.  That  we  may  "tinker"  with  plants- 
and  animals,  and  try  to  improve  upon  Nature, 
but  that  man  must  religiously  adhere  to  his  own 
race,  clan  or  people,  and  refuse  to  mix  or  asso- 
ciate with  any  others  on  equal  terms.  This  idea 
is  founded  upon  the  illusive  belief  that  there  is 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  '233 

more  than  one  species  of  man.  Such  reasoning 
is  decidedly  narrow,  and  betrays  a  lack  of  insight 
and  investigation  into  Nature's  laws,  and  the  hu- 
man family.  Nature  endeavors  to  maintain 
equilibrium  throughout  all  her  productions  and 
functions. 

To  illustrate,  we  will  take  history  and  say  that 
we  have  three  distinctly,  separate  peoples  or 
races,  who  have  no  intercourse  with  each  other, 
who  even  hate  each  other.  One  dwells  in  Af- 
rica, one  in  Europe  and  one  in  Asia.  One  is  a 
low-cast,  barbarous  race,  one  semi-civilized,  and 
the  other  is  crammed  with  temples  of  learning, 
libraries,  high  culture,  and  is  admirably  civil- 
ized, as  ancient  civilizations  go.  Now,  PRO- 
PORTION IS  A  PARAMOUNT  NAT- 
URAL LAW.  We  find  as  we  carefully  follow 
the  history  of  these  three  nations  or  races,  that 
the  barbarous  is  lifted  up,  the  over-cultured 
pulled  down,  and  that  finally  the  semi-civilized 
raises  its  great,  broad,  bushy  head  and  assimilates 
both  and  swells,  grows  and  devours,  until  it  be- 
comes a  monstrosity,  when  in  turn  it,  too,  is  ab- 
sorbed by  others.  Thus  the  process  will  con- 
tinue in  the  future  history  of  man  in  spite  of  all 
reasoning  to  the  contrary. 

Prof.  O.  S.  Fowler  said  many  years  ago: 
"The  acknowledged  Anglo-Saxon  superiority 
is  directly  traceable  to  the  wholesale  interming- 


234  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

ling  of  the  ancient  Briton,  Picts,  Celts  and  Ro- 
mans, both  with  each  other,  and  the  Normans, 
Danes  and  others.  We  find  in  nearly  every  in- 
stance where  nations  are  not  thus  crossed  they 
are  either  stationary  or  on  the  decline;  like 
Spain,  Africa  and  Eastern  nations.  The  influx 
of  foreigners  from  all  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa, 
into  our  country,  is  indeed  the  most  auspicious 
omen  of  future  development  and  greatness." 

Nature  does  and  can  by  the  union  of  opposites, 
instead  of  similarities,  effect  astonishing  im- 
provements. And  it  is  well  known  to  up-to-date 
scientists  that  if  dissimilarities  did  not  exist;  if 
there  were  no  two  dissimilar  procreative  attract- 
ing poles  in  the  human  family,  there  could  be  no 
evolutionary  process,  and  consequently  no  hu- 
man advancement. 

THE  LAW  OF  SPECIES.— The  law  of  spe- 
cific procreative  attraction  exists  for  the  perpet- 
uation of  the  various  species  of  plant  and  ani- 
mal life.  It  is  the  law  of  species.  The  law  of 
attraction,  for  the  opposite  sexual  poles  in  repro- 
duction and  growth,  is  a  co-partner  with  the 
law  of  dissemination  (scattering)  in  the  econ- 
omy of  life.  The  absence  of  either  would  cause 
a  chaotic  condition.  With  the  law  of  procrea- 
tive attraction,  for  the  reproduction  of  species, 
only  in  operation  we  would  find  all  the  thou- 
sands of  separate  plants  and  animals  in  so  many 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  235 

separate  localities  on  earth.  For  example,  there 
would  be  thousands  of  acres  of  wheat  in  one  part, 
separate  from  all  others.  We  would  find  large 
wooded  places;  every  species  alone.  Immense 
orchards  of  single  varieties  would  cover  millions 
of  acres;  and  close  by  might  be  found  thousands 
of  acres  of  poisonous  ivy,  deathly  nightshade, 
apple-fern  and  hundreds  of  other  loathsome 
plants.  Should  a  man  by  accident  stray  from  his 
habitation  and  run  into  such  a  bewildering  mass 
of  poisonous  growth,  escape  would  be  impos- 
sible. 

On  the  other  hand,  should  he  run  across  the 
several  hundred  miles  of  the  snake  habitation,  he 
would  be  shocked  out  of  his  identity.  Then, 
again,  he  might  encounter  an  ant  hill  several 
miles  high,  containing  all  the  ants  on  earth.  Or 
he  might  run  into  the  various  animal  territories, 
and  escape  under  all  circumstances  would  be  al- 
most impossible. 

THE  DIVINE  PLAN  OF  MAN'S  RE- 
DEMPTION.— The  above  arrangement,  on  a 
small  scale,  would  be  an  ideal  paradise  to  dwell 
in.  But  the  law  of  scattering  drove  man  and 
animal  out  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  whatever  and 
wherever  that  may  have  been,  to  populate  the 
world.  The  law  of  f ruitfulness  was  based  upon 
the  law  of  scattering,  for  without  scattering  there 
could  be  no  multiplication  and  growth.  Soil, 


230  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

food  and  climate,  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
were  instrumental  in  producing  the  various 
physical  types,  temperaments  and  colors  of  skin. 
Ham,  Shem  and  Japhet  were  not  black,  yellow 
and  white;  dissemination  caused  their  posterity 
to  gradually  assume  these  types. 

We  here  touch  upon  a  profound  thought— 
viz.,  the  Divine  plan  of  man's  redemption: 
First,  the  scattering,  for  the  purpose  of  multi- 
plying and  creating  a  variety  of  races;  secondly, 
the  gathering  together  of  these  races  again  into 
one  family,  for  the  purpose  of  final  extinction. 

Continual  inbreeding  deteriorates,  cross- 
breeding enhances;  causes  fruitfulness  and 
growth.  The  savage  African  would  remain  a 
savage  still,  another  thousand  years  or  two,  did 
he  not  sooner  come  in  contact  with  other  races. 
As  a  race  he  is  in  his  second  childhood,  and 
cannot  hope  to  rise  independent  of  all  foreign 
blood,  and  rule  his  people. 

The  various  branches  of  the  Caucasian  family 
in  America  are,  even  in  this  early  day,  threat- 
ened with  race  suicide.  How  long  will  it  be  be- 
fore scarcely  one  puny  child  will  arrive  in 
every  white  home  in  America?  We  have  on 
record  numerous  cases  where  one  or  two  weakly 
offspring  would  be  born  to  a  white  man  by  his 
white  wife,  and  ten  bright,  vigorous  ones  by  a 
colored  woman. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  237 

We  wish  our  readers  to  hold  the  thought  that 
mental  and  physical  dissimilarities  cross  for 
evolutionary  growth  and  f ruitfulness.  When  all 
differences  in  the  human  family  have  disap- 
peared in  extreme  physical  refinement,  a  general 
decline  in  population,  and  final  extinction  will 
ensue.  Do  our  readers  catch  the  thought  we 
wish  to  convey?  The  time  will  come,  and  is 
comparatively  near,  when  men  will  not  worry 
about  over-population,  but  a  positive  decline  in 
our  white  population.  The  government  then  in 
control  will  advocate  a  scientific  system  of  fruit- 
ful marriages,  as  a  matter  of  self-preservation. 
It  may  then  even  invite  the  indomitable  Jap  and 
the  darkest  man  in  existence  as  our  son-in-law. 

Races  can  no  longer  stand  apart  and  advocate 
their  integrity  and  live.  A  bewildering  amount 
of  mixing  covers  the  entire  past  history,  when 
there  was  no  means  of  communication,  how  can 
now  be  prevented  the  final  union  of  all  the  races, 
when  commerce  and  traveling  by  land  and  water 
makes  every  race,  clan  and  color  our  next  door 
neighbor?  We  are  coming  to  it  fast — the  final 
union  of  the  children  of  Noah. 

THE  GARDEN  OF  EDEN.— We  are  led 
to  believe  that  there  was  a  time  in  the  history  of 
this  world,  when  plant  and  animal  life  was  first 
introduced,  when  the  law  of  dissemination  was 
not  yet  in  operation.  If  the  Garden  of  Eden 


238  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

was  governed  without  scattering  influence, 
Adam  had  an  ideal  habitation.  Moses  plainly 
speaks  of  the  time  in  Gen.  VI.,  ist  to  9th  verses, 
when  the  sons  of  Noah  feared  the  law  of  scat- 
tering. These  early  people  tried  to  resist  the 
operation  of  this  law,  but  it  scattered  them 
abroad  on  the  earth,  and  caused  them  to  even 
speak  different  languages.  This  process  was  ab- 
solutely necessary  in  o.rder  to  create  dissimi- 
larities in  the  human  family,  essential  to  per- 
petuate the  race. 

It  is  evident  that  had  the  race  continued  to 
live  in  the  same  place  the  ultimate  plan  of 
human  growth  would  have  been  defeated,  and 
man  would  have  early  become  extinct.  That 
an  oak  tree,  for  example,  should  spring  up  spon- 
taneously over  the  entire  earth  at  the  same  time, 
without  first  a  seed  being  planted,  is  beyond  an 
ordinary  mind  to  comprehend.  It  seems  far 
more  rational  to  believe  that  the  first  oak  and 
man  existed  in  a  specific  place;  for  a  specific 
purpose,  until  the  law  of  scattering  became 
operative. 

WOULD  EXPERIENCE  A  CALAMITY. 
• — Should  the  law  for  the  perpetuation  of  the 
species  be  dropped  from  the  category  of  natural 
laws,  and  the  law  of  dissemination  alone  remain 
in  operation,  this  world  would  experience  even 
a  greater  calamity  than  that  just  described.  A 


OR    THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


239 


f  Spectes  Forbids 
Mixing. 


The  new  lot  of  chickens  in  his  barnyard  would  quack  like  a 
duck,  yet  not  look  like  one,  while  a  strange  lot  of  ducks  might 
cackle  like  hens  and  crow  like  cocks. 


240  HOLMS   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

farmer  would  sow  a  certain  kind  of  grain,  but 
would  invariably  reap  strange  combinations  of 
other  grains  and  weeds  he  never  knew  or  sowed 
before.  The  new  lot  of  chickens  in  his  barnyard 
would  quack  like  a  duck,  yet  not  look  like  one, 
while  a  strange  lot  of  ducks  might  cackle  like 
hens  and  crow  like  cocks.  Strange  beings  would 
be  born,  undreamed  of  monstrosities,  living, 
crawling,  creeping  things,  unnamed  and  un- 
nameable;  beautiful,  poetic,  symmetrical  dreams 
of  perfection;  winged  and  unwinged  angels 
would  fly  and  run  swifter  than  the  wind,  then 
disappear  to  give  rise  to  yet  other  beings,  other 
freaks  for  still  others  to  play  with,  until  all 
would  be  a  loathsome,  unspeakable  confusion. 
Man  could  not  long  survive. 

DISSEMINATION  GROWING 
STRONGER.— We  believe  that  the  law  of  dis- 
semination is  growing  stronger  and  more  active 
as  the  world  grows  older.  We  see  evidences  of 
this  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  world.  Strange 
plants  and  animals  have  been  distributed  and 
successfully  raised  in  many  parts  formerly  un-. 
known.  And  the  same  fact  is  true  of  man. 
Birds  who  carry  seeds  of  plants  from  one  coun- 
try to  another  unconsciously  pbey  this  law,  so 
also  did  the  slavers  who  brought  the  Negro  here 
and  throughout  the  world.  Phillis  Wheatley, 
the  inspired  Negro  girl  poet,  undoubtedly  re- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  241 

ceived  a  true  impression  of  this  fact  when  she 
wrote : 

"'Twas  mercy  brought  me  from  my  Pagan  Land, 
Taught  my  benighted  soul  to  understand 
That  there's  a  God — that  there's  a  Saviour  too  ; 
Once  I  redemption  neither  sought  nor  knew." 

In  the  workings  of  Almighty  God  there  is  no 
thread  broken,  save  by  erring  man,  in  the  great 
plan  of  human  redemption — of  the  final  reunion 
of  all  nations  and  races  into  one  people,  one  gov- 
ernment, one  tongue.  The  world  is  getting 
smaller  rapidly.  Every  thinking  man  and 
woman  knows  that,  at  the  present  ratfc  of  prog- 
ress, the  day  will  soon  arrive  when  the  entire 
map  of  the  world  will  be  changed.  This  will 
come  about  in  a  peaceful  manner,  accompanied 
by  wonderful  progress,  or  else  war  and  extermi- 
nation will  bring  it  about,  just  as  man  may  will 
it  in  the  final  process  of  growth  and  decay. 

THERE  IS  A  DIVINE  PURPOSE  IN 
MIXING. — In  the  mixing  of  the  Negro  and 
Caucasian  in  the  South  we  see  a  divine  purpose. 
Let  us  be  frank  with  ourselves.  Had  this  mix- 
ing not  taken  place  to  the  extent  it  has,  or  nor 
at  all,  what  would  today  become  of  the  pure- 
blood  African  in  our  midst?  We  expect  a  strong 
contradiction  here,  but  the  fact  remains  true; 
were  it  not  for  the  millions  of  mixed  blood,  the 
hope  in  the  heart  of  the  pure-blooded  black  man 
would  be  faint  indeed ;  not  because  he  is  destitute 


16 


242  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

of  ability  to  rise,  for  he  is  not,  but  because  of  the 
evidence  that  would  then  exist  that  he  belonged 
to  another  race  of  beings  with  which  human 
beings  could  not  mix.  We  contend  that  the  evi- 
dence of  his  extensive  mixing  with  the  white  and 
other  races,  puts  him  in  the  front  rank  of  future 
human  progress,  and  on  an  equal  footing  with 
all  people.  Our  friend,  Rev.  John  H.  White, 
D.  D.,  (see  Resume)  is  right  when  he  says: 
"The  Negro  has  always  figured  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  His  blood  has  entered  strongly  into 
that  of  fhe  dominant  and  conquering  Roman, 
into  the-  Latin  races  of  Europe — France,  Spain, 
Italy." 

Moses,  the  greatest  lawgiver  and  moral  re- 
former the  world  has  ever  known,  would  not 
have  married  an  Ethiopian  woman,  had  that 
race  then  been  considered  of  an  inferior  and  un- 
mixable  kind,  as  it  is  considered  in  these  States 
today,  in  spite  of  all  mixing  that  is  now  taking 
place;  and  has  there  ever  been  more  than  now? 

IS  OUTRAGEOUS,  YET  DIVINE.— This 
is  outrageous!  A  divine  purpose  in  the  most 
glaring  sin  committed?  If  it  is,  then  the  im- 
mutable laws  of  God  are  outrageous,  yet  they  are 
just. 

When  a  fierce  storm  sweeps  over  a  portion  of 
our  country  and  leaves  wreck  and  ruin,  death 
and  destruction  in  its  path,  the  superstitious  say 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  243 

it  is  the  work  of  the  devil,  or  the  wrath  of  God, 
or  a  punishment  of  the  wicked,  while  reason  and 
science  say  that  it  is  but  a  law  of  the  elements 
and  a  necessary  cleansing  and  readjusting  pro- 
cess, designed  by  a  Wise  Ruler  in  the  economy 
of  the  world,  for  the  preservation  of  plant  and 
animal  life.  Did  not  these  disturbances  occur 
over  land  and  sea,  stagnation  and  death  would 
soon  take  place,  and  leave  the  earth  a  silent 
cemetery. 

Had  not  Frederick  Douglass,  Booker  T. 
Washington  and  nearly  all  the  other  great  men 
of  the  American  Negro  race  been  of  mixed 
blood,  this  people  and  this  world  would  be  just 
that  much  worse  off.  The  manner  of  their  birth 
has  been  criticised  and  condemned,  and  no  doubt 
justly  in  the  light  of  modern  ethics,  but,  never- 
theless, the  law  of  dissemination  or  mixing  was 
obeyed  under  adverse  conditions,  and  the  wrong 
here  involved  can  only  be  laid  at  the  door  of 
human  ignorance  and  depravity. 

Here  again,  as  in  the  natural  process  of  puri-, 
fying  the  atmosphere  as  in  the  storm,  poor 
humanity  has  been  outwitted  and  a  greater  in- 
telligence has  taken  in  hand  the  destiny  of  a 
people.  All  the  man-made  laws  and  adverse 
criticism  cannot  change  the  inevitable.  Why 
should  the  moral  heroism  and  the  great  intel- 
lectual illumination  of  this  free  age  longer  per- 


244  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

/ 

mit  the  inhuman  procedure,  discussed  in  this 
book,  when  the  proper  legislation  would  wash 
away  this  horrible  stain,  this  unmitigated  curse, 
and  give  to  both  races  a  moral  tone,  a  Christian 
purity,  as  behooves  a  civilized  people.  The  fol- 
lowing analyses  of  the  blending  of  the  two  races 
must  convince  all  skeptical  and  prejudiced  that 
legal  amalgamation  and  the  removing  of  preju- 
dice is  the  paramount  race  issue. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  245 

CHAPTER  XII 

RACE  INTEGRITY 

THE  RACE  INTEGRITY  CRANK.— 
In  every  age  of  mankind  the  demand  for  race 
integrity  was  manifested  among  the  various 
tribes  and  nations  of  the  world;  and  among  peo- 
ple the  most  barbarous  and  exclusive  the  demand 
has  been  most  strenuous.  In  fact,  the  most  bar- 
barous often  pride  themselves  most  on  their  race 
purity.  Ignorance  is  invariably  the  father  of 
race  prejudice,  and  the  source  of  belief  in  race 
integrity.  And  this  absurd,  childish  proclivity 
manifests  itself  in  a  peculiar  manner,  under 
peculiar  circumstances,  at  the  present  time.  We 
say  absurd,  childish — what  else,  think  you,  is  it? 
The  absolute  inconsistency  of  many  who  cry  the 
loudest  for  race  integrity  is  abominable!  We 
do  not  deny  that  illicit  miscegenation  prevails 
throughout  the  South  among  the  lowest  classes 
of  the  races;  but  when  men  of  influence  and 
social  prominence  everywhere  step  up  to  us  and 
damn  the  entire  "nigger  race,"  and  demand  race 
integrity,  while  their  pale-faced  sons  and  daugh- 
ters and  their  dark-faced  "concubines"  (?)  are 
fed  and  housed  by  them,  this  race  integrity  busi- 
ness becomes  a  very  serious  proposition. 


246  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

When  the  modern  Moses  of  America  makes 
laws,  forbidding  the  "children  of  Israel"  to 
commingle  with  all  other  races,  while  he  per- 
sistently sticks  to  his — black  honey — Ethiopian 
wife,  in  spite  of  all  the  protests,  arguments  and 
prejudice  of  his  brother  Aaron  and  sister  Marion, 
we  think  it  is  time  we  take  a  good,  square  look 
at  this  "sacred"  race  purity  doctrine.  What  we 
say  is  not  meant  to  reflect  unkindly  upon  those 
who  very  seriously  believe  in  their  own  breed, 
and  champion  that  particular  kind  of  breed  to 
which  they  belong.  They  have  that  privilege — 
all  men  have  that  privilege.  Most  men  believe 
that  they  are  the  only  pure-bred  animal  on  earth 
(the  tree-climbing,  cocoanut-headed  pigmy  be- 
lieves that),  consequently  they  are  extremely 
anxious  to  populate  the  world  with  their  partic- 
ular "species,"  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others.  We 
have  profound  respect  for  this  class  of  men  and 
women,  although  they  may  be  a  little  self-cen- 
tered, unreasonable.  But,  if  we  made  it  our 
business  to  hate  any  mortal  being  on  earth,  it 
would  assuredly  be  the  bold-faced  hypocrite,  the 
race  integrity  crank;  the  man  with  a  "ga"  at 

the  end  of  Negro,  and  a  "d "  in  front.    Our 

country  is  at  present  infested  with  this  kind  of 
human  monstrosity. 

THE  MAN  WHO  IS  NOT  A  NEGRO. 
• — We  would  not  deny  that  some  day,  yet  far  dis- 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  247 

tant,  the  presence  of  a  pure-blooded  Caucasian 
will  be  a  rare  curiosity  in  some  sections  of  the 
Southland ;  but  the  real  Negro  will  also  be  con- 
spicuous for  his  absence.  Indeed,  as  we  assert 
in  several  parts  of  this  book,  the  true  Negro 
will,  within  a  comparatively  short  time,  be  ex- 
tinct, unless  recruited  from  Africa. 

While  the  amalgamating  process  is  more 
noticeable  in  cities,  there  are  many  instances  in 
rural  districts  where  some  white  planters  have 
their  "mistresses."  You  may  call  the  progeny  of 
this  class  white  Negroes,  you  may  continue  to 
call  all  people  of  African  descent  Negroes;  but 
they  are,  nevertheless,  as  far  removed  from  a 
Negro  as  an  Irishman  is  from  an  Indian.  On 
short  notice  a  goodly  crowd  of  this  class  of  so- 
called  Negroes,  who  are  as  white  as  many  south- 
erners, may  be  picked  up  in  most  localities.  Of 
course,  if  they  prefer  to  call  themselves  Negroes 
to  anything  else,  that  is  their  business;  scien- 
tifically speaking,  we  cannot  class  these  with  the 
Negro  race,  as  they  have  lost  their  Negro  char- 
acteristics to  too  marked  an  extent.  Any  man 
with  more  foreign  blood  than  a  mulatto  is  not  a 
Negro,  and  the  fact  that  he  is  called  one,  or  calls 
himself  one,  is  absurd.  He  could,  with  more 
propriety,  be  called  a  hybrid  or  mongrel,  for  he 
is  nothing  else.  If  anthropology  teaches  any 
truth,  it  must  teach  that  a  man  of  mixed  blood 


•248  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

belongs  to  the  race  of  nearest  kin.     Anything 
else  is  neither  science  nor  justice,  but  prejudice. 

The  scientific  truth  here  conveyed  is  indis- 
putable: Can  a  man  take  a  glass  of  wine,  drink 
one-half  of  it,  refill  with  \vater  and  then  claim 
that  it  is  wine,  without  telling  a  falsehood?  But, 
you  say,  he  may  pass  it  for  "thin  wine."  Very 
well.  But  suppose  he  again  drinks  one-half,  and 
again  refills  the  glass  with  water,  and  then  swears 
that  it  is  still  wine?  That  man  is  a  liar! 

Any  man  who  claims  to  be  a  Negro,  though  it 
may  be  very  respectable  to  be  one,  when  he  is 
not  one ;  any  man  who  calls  another  man  a  Negro 
who  is  not  one  commits  the  same  crime  as  does 
the  man  who  calls  water  wine.  It  is  a  sin  against 
the  accepted  law  of  evolution,  and  against  the 
highest  sense  of  justice  to  do  so.  Why  do  we 
put  it  this  way?  Because  as  long  as  a  class  of 
people  of  this  kind  call  themselves  Negroes, 
they  will  continue  to  be  called  "niggers,"  and 
will  continue  to  live  under  the  ban  of  a  sham.  A 
sham  is  a  counterfeit,  a  counterfeit  is  but  a 
shadow  of  the  real  thing. 

This  diversion  in  our  discourse  is  necessary 
here  in  order  to  make  plain  a  few  following 
facts :  First,  that  the  southern  whites  and  others, 
who  amalgamate  with  and  are  assimilated  into  a 
people  just  mentioned,  will  not  leave  the  world 
any  worse  off  for  such  a  fusion.  Secondly,  that 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  249 

we  fail  to  find  in  the  average  southerner  any- 
thing that  indicates  the  presence  of  a  superior 
stock.  There  are  the  baser  (so-called  trash)  class, 
the  growing  middle  class  and  the  top-heavy, 
superfine  class.  The  baser  class  is  considerably 
below  the  middle  colored  class — in  many  cases 
as  low  as  the  lowest  Negro  class.  The  superfine 
class  is  the  ornamental,  the  aristocratic;  while 
the  middle  class  represents  the  real  backbone  of 
southern  industry  and  stability — and  this  class 
is  intermarrying  with  northern  and  other  settlers 
very  rapidly. 

WOULD  ENCOURAGE  INTERMAR- 
RIAGE.— The  Wisconsin  State  Journal,  com- 
menting upon  our  lamented-Governor  Johnson's 
speech  some  time  ago,  draws  a  true  picture  with 
regard  to  this  fact,  as  northern  people  see  it.  It 
is  as  follows:  "Gov.  Johnson,  of  Minnesota,  hit 
the  nail  pretty  squarely  on  the  head  when  in  a 
recent  speech  in  the  South  he  explained  how  it 
was  that  the  North  had  left  the  South  so  far  be- 
hind in  the  march  of  material  progress.  The 
war  devastated  this  country  sadly,  but  the  war 
was  not  the  only  cause  for  the  long  period  of 
stagnation.  Lack  of  hard  work  did  much  to  re- 
tard the  South's  regeneration.  Here  people  did 
not  know  how  to  turn  to  and  work.  If  our  peo- 
ple of  the  northwest  had  this  region  they  would 
have  put  it  on  its  feet  again  in  a  very  few  years," 


250  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

said  he.  "We  have  been  accustomed  to  work. 
We  had  no  servants  to  wait  on  us  in  the  north- 
west. Our  women  folks,  too,  knew  how  to  work. 
My  wife  did  her  own  housework  almost  up  to 
the  time  I  became  governor.  She  cooked  the 
dinner  for  her  guests  and  washed  the  dishes.  It 
is  these  habits  of  industry  that  give  life  and 
strength  to  a  nation,  especially  to  a  people  in  a 
crisis."  The  South  has  long  realized  the  truth 
of  the  governor's  statements.  The  southern  habit 
of  leaving  to  "niggers"  the  common  work  of  the 
field  and  household  has  produced  an  enervated 
people  lacking  in  initiative  and  self-reliance. 
Even  now,  it  is  northern  capital  and  push  that 
is  bringing  the  Southout  of  the  lethargy  imposed 
by  the  war.  On  the  other  hand,  accustomed  to 
doing  their  own  work  the  people  of  the  North, 
men  and  women  alike,  have  developed  a  sturdier, 
more  independent  race.  They  built  their  cabins 
and  cleared  their  lands  themselves,  thus  adding 
steadily  to  the  aggregate  wealth  of  the  section 
and  producing  at  the  same  time  brain  and  brawn 
to  meet  and  overcome  emergencies  and  be  pre- 
pared to  seize  opportunities.  We  have  heard 
it  said  by  substantial,  sensible  men  that  they 
would  prefer  their  daughters  marrying  indus- 
trious mulattoes  to  a  class  of  the  lank,  shiftless, 
loose-jointed  southerners.  Not  long  since  one  of 
these  tired,  long-faced  fellows,  not  by  any  means 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  251 

void  of  intelligence  in  a  way,  frankly  admitted 
to  us  that  his  race  had  "well  nigh  run  out,"  just 
as  the  native  cattle  in  the  backwoods;  and  the 
only  hope  he  held  out  was  the  crossing  of  his 
children  with  foreign  blood,  like  German  or 
Scandinavian. 

NATURE  ALWAYS  ENDEAVORS  TO 
PRODUCE  HER  BEST.— This  is  the  scien- 
tific reason  why  so  many  of  these  men  have  af- 
filiated with  the  strong,  Vital  Temperament  in 
the  industrous  Negro  race;  thus  raising  their 
progeny  in  a  marked  degree,  in  many  instances. 
In  parts  of  the  South  where  foreigners  have  not 
yet  settled  to  take  up  the  industrial  side  of  life, 
a  great  deal  of  the  energy  put  forth  is  produced 
by  this  progeny.  We  know  of  instances  where 
the  planter's  children,  by  his  "mistress,"  are  the 
main  stay  of  the  establishment.  Of  course,  this 
fact  is  denied  by  the  prejudiced.  To  admit  this 
truth  would  amount  to  a  confession,  and  over- 
throw the  prevailing  custom.  To  show  you  the 
established,  narrow,  prejudiced  belief  in  this  re- 
gard, we  will  quote  a  recognized  authority  of 
some  note,  D.  G.  Brinton.  He  says  in  his  book, 
"Races  and  Peoples, "published  in  1890:  "There 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  any  white  mixed  race 
is  lower  in  the  scale  of  intelligence  than  the  pure 
white  race.  A  white  man  entails  indelible  deg- 
radation on  his  descendants  who  takes  in  mar- 


252  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

riage  a  woman  of  a  darker  race.  *  *  *  Still 
more  to  be  deplored  is  the  woman  of  a  white 
race  who  unites  herself  with  a  man  of  a  lower 
ethnic  type.  That  philanthropy  is  false, 

that  religion  is  rotten,  which  would  sanction  a 
white  woman  enduring  the  embrace  of  a  colored 
man!' 

If  Mr.  Brinton  had  investigated,  free  from 
prejudice,  the  results  of  normal  crossings  of 
white  and  colored  people,  he  would  have  ex- 
claimed with  us:  "Behold!  what  hath  Nature 
wrought?"  Supposing  the  white  mixed  race 
average  lower  in  the  accepted  scales  of  accom- 
plishments (which  is  not  true),  what  of  it? 
Should  that  be  the  only  grounds  upon  which  to 
condemn  commingling,  or  the  lawful  amalgama- 
tion of  the  races?  Never.  We  must  consider 
the  whole  man  thus  crossed,  his  physical  appear- 
ance, his  latent  capabilities,  his  inherent  tenacity, 
etc.,  before  we  can  pass  judgment  upon  this  very 
important  matter. 

To  show  you  that  this  narrow,  one-sided  view 
is  old — in  this  country  as  old  as  slavery  itself— 
we  will  quote  a  writer  in  De  Bows  Commercial 
Magazine,  published  in  1866  in  New  Orleans. 
He  said:  "We  think  that  every  humane  man, 
who  will  carefully  examine  the  subject  for  him- 
self, will  arrive  at  the  same  conclusion  as  the 
writer  of  these  few  suggestions  and  facts,  viz. : 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  253 

that  to  encourage  amalgamation  is  to  encourage 
commission  of  crime  and  cruelty,  the  increase  of 
ignorance  and  misery,  and  to  insure  the  destruc- 
tion of  two  races  in  attempting  to  elevate  one." 
If  the  writer  refers  to  the  kind  of  amalgamation 
which  has  corrupted  both  races  in  the  South, 
the  only  kind  known  to  the  people,  then  we  say 
this  quotation  contains  considerable  truth.  This 
subject  is  so  thoroughly  treated  elsewhere  in  this 
book,  that  we  shall  not  discuss  it  further  here. 

WAS  NEVER  TAKEN  SERIOUSLY.— 
Such  utterances,  whether  written  or  spoken,  to- 
day or  any  other  day,  have  never  been  taken  very 
seriously  by  the  people.  The  Hebrew  history  is, 
for  instance,  a  very  striking  example.  Among 
them  commingling  was  forbidden  by  an  un- 
written law,  yet  nearly  all  of  their  greatest  men 
had  Ethiopian  and  other  foreign  wives  not  of 
their  race,  Christ  himself  being  of  such  extrac- 
tion. 

Some  of  us  remember  having  read  an  abstract 
of  Abraham  Lincoln's  speech,  delivered  on  Sept. 
1 8th,  1858,  during  the  debates  between  him  and 
Douglass.  Wade  Hamton  referred  to  this  in  the 
Forum  for  June,  1888.  Mr.  Lincoln  said: 
"While  at  the  hotel  today  an  elderly  gentleman 
called  upon  me  to  know  whether  I  really  was 
in  favor  of  producing  perfect  equality  between 
the  Negroes  and  white  people.  *  *  -*  I  will 


254  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

say,  then,  that  I  am  not,  nor  ever  have  been,  in 
favor  of  bringing  about  in  any  way  the  social 
and  political  equality  of  the  white  and  black 
races ;  that  I  am  not,  nor  ever  have  been,  in  favor 
of  making  voters  or  jurors  of  Negroes,  nor  of 
qualifying  them  to  hold  office,  nor  to  intermarry 
with  white  people;  and  I  will  say,  in  addition 
to  this,  that  there  is  a  physical  difference  be- 
tween the  white  and  black  races  which,  I  be- 
lieve, will  forever  forbid  the  two  races  living  to- 
gether on  terms  of  social  and  political  equality." 

We  have  just  spoken  of  the  "physical  differ- 
ence" Mr.  Lincoln  referred  to,  and  we  venture 
to  say  that  if  he  had  taken  pains  to  investigate, 
he  would  have  found  the  dissimilarities  quite  as 
great  in  the  Negro  race  of  these  states  as  be- 
tween the  white  and  black  races.  When  men, 
white  and  colored,  speak  about  the  races  they 
generally  forget  that  the  existing  relationship  be- 
tween them  in  America,  is  closer  than  between 
any  absolute  unlike  races  on  earth.  This  applies 
to  Cuba  and  South  America  as  well. 

MILLIONS  ARE  NOT  NEGROES.— 
When  they  say  "Negro,"  they  fail  to  consider 
justly  the  millions  who  are  not  Negroes- — only 
in  name.  We  do  not  doubt  the  sincerity  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  There  were  in  that  early  day, 
among  the  abolitionists,  persons  who  saw  the  evil 
of  illicit  mixing,  and  strongly  advocated  legal 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  255 

intermarriage.  Mr.  Lincoln  not  being  an  in- 
vestigator, although  possessing  a  smattering  of 
anthropology,  was  unfamiliar  with  the  natural 
laws  which  govern  the  mixing  of  the  human 
family;  took  the  common  stand  of  his  race,  be- 
lieved in  the  eternal  superiority  of  his  breed,  and 
did  not  hesitate  to  say  so.  He  was  honest  in  his 
convictions ;  others  were  honest,  then  as  now. 

It  is  the  "awful"  dissimilarity  between  the 
Caucasian  and  Negro  that  is,  by  many  people, 
considered  an  insurmountable  obstacle  in  the 
way;  yet  this  barrier  has  long  since  become  sur- 
mountable. There  are  now  only  4,000,000  de- 
cidedly dark  and  black  people  left  in  these  states, 
while  6,000,000  or  more  range  from  the  mulatto 
to  pure  white.  This  beautiful  blending  of  the 
two  races  is  a  fascinating  study  to  any  one  not 
blinded  with  the  poison  of  race  prejudice.  The 
fact  that  the  pure-blooded  Negro  invariably 
mixes  with  the  mixed,  is  sufficient  proof  to  any 
investigator  that  the  real  Negro  will  disappear 
in  a  very  few  generations.  This  will  gradually 
lessen  the  physical  differences  between  the  races 
Mr.  Lincoln  referred  to.  And  from  overwhelm- 
ing evidences  we  see  on  every  hand  the  white 
man  does,  naturally,  not  object  to  this  striking 
difference.  It  is  not  a  natural  antipathy  between 
the  black  and  white  races  that  has  created  a  re- 
pulsive feeling  among  many  whites,  but  rather 


256 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


GUILTY,  YET   HAPPY 


OR    THE   FADIXG   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  257 

the  inborn  prejudice  and  contempt  for  an  unde- 
veloped people  who  once  were  slaves.  Brinton 
fully  shares  this  feeling  when  he  said  that  "that 
philanthropy  is  false,  that  religion  is  rotten, 
which  would  sanction  a  white  woman  enduring 
the  embrace  of  a  colored  man."  No  impartial, 
scientific  man  could  say  this. 

A  WOMAN  ENDURES  A  MAN'S  EM- 
BRACE.— Many  a  white  woman  has  endured 
the  embrace  of  a  white  man  whose  embrace  stung 
her  like  the  fangs  of  a  deathly  serpent.  Color 
has  little  to  do  with  it — only  love  and  the  man. 

We  have  knowledge  of  a  good,  industrious 
woman,  who  became  acquainted  with  and  fell  in 
love  with  a  nice,  respectable  colored  man  in  the 
North.  They  "promised  each  other,"  and  were 
about  to  be  married.  Friends  and  relatives  op- 
posed the  match  and  broke  it  up.  Later  she 
married  a  white  man  who  soon  proved  himself 
a  drunken  brute.  Years  of  pain,  disappointment 
and  sorrow  followed,  as  the  wife  of  a  drunkard, 
when  finally  her  wretched  home  was  entirely 
broken  up,  and  herself  and  children  were  thrown 
upon  a  cold,  friendless  world. 

It  is  the  embrace  of  a  man,  not  a  brute,  that 
a  woman,  white  or  colored,  "endures" — and  such 
endurance  brings  to  her  the  thrill  of  exquisite 
happiness,  surpassed  by  every  other  emotion  of 
her  bein<y. 

17 


258  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

We  claim  that  philanthropy  false,  that  religion 
a  lie,  that  repudiates  the  voice  of  Almighty  God 
in  the  law  of  our  being,  when  choosing  the  af- 
finity of  our  soul,  and  the  partner  of  our  natural 
life. 

Go  into  a  colored  assemblage  anywhere,  and 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  where  conditions  permit 
it,  the  brown,  tan  and  white  colored  women  are 
mated  to  the  dark  and  black  men,  and  vice  versa. 
It  is  as  natural  for  some  white  women  to  "en- 
dure" the  embrace  of  colored  men,  as  it  is  for 
these  fair  and  white  colored  women,  who  crave 
that  endurance.  Why  do  not  all  these  prefer 
their  own  color  in  their  mates? 

Answer:    Because  Nature  says  no. 

Prof.  O.  S.  Fowler,  whom  we  consider  an  au- 
thority on  this  subject,  says  in  his  book  on  Crea- 
tive and  Sexual  Science: 

"So  great  is  the  power  of  love  to  unite  two  of 
even  opposing  temperament,  fuse  those  naturally 
uncongenial,  amalgamate  those  actually  repel- 
lant,  and  harmonize  even  civilized  with  savage." 

RACE  INTEGRITY  NOTHING  BUT  A 
FAD. — It  is  not  necessary  to  produce  further 
overwhelming  evidence  in  support  of  our  posi- 
tion. It  is  clear  to  the  unbiased  reader  that  race 
integrity  is  nothing  but  a  fad;  that  there  is  no 
race,  of  any  consequence  in  the  world,  that  can 
boast  of  absolute  purity.  All  advanced  Euro- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  259 

peans  have  a  variety  of  complexions.  Such  pure- 
blooded  people  as  the  American  Indian,  Es- 
quimaux and  some  African  and  Asiatic  tribes,  are 
looked  down  upon  with  scorn  by  the  mixed  peo- 
ple of  a  higher  order;  and  the  same  fact  will  re- 
main true  here  as  long  as  the  Negro  is  a  factor 
in  the  Afro-American  race.  Any  Negro  who 
boasts  of  the  purity  of  his  blood  in  these  states 
is  his  own  greatest  enemy,  not  because  of  the  fact 
that  he  is  pure,  but  because  the  anti-Negro  senti- 
ment is  thereby  incensed. 

Rub  in  the  fact  that  the  American  Negro,  the 
Afro-American,  the  Colored  Caucasian,  is  homo- 
geneous, related  by  an  inseparable  tie  to  the 
white  race,  and  is  bound  to  remain  inseparable, 
and  as  sure  as  there  is  a  wise,  overruling  Provi- 
dence, peaceful  and  happy  relations  will  ensue. 

Agitate  the  "my  race  and  your  race"  feeling, 
enlarge  upon  this  dangerous  and  pernicious  prac- 
tice of  inborn  hatred,  and  instead  of  a  calm  there 
will  be  a  storm;  instead  of  sunshine  and  song 
there  will  be  darkness  and  despair;  instead  of 
love  and  happiness  there  will  be  pain  and  sorrow. 

As  we  reiterate  in  this  book,  Nature  main- 
tains equilibrium  throughout  all  her  marvelous 
works ;  and  does  not  recognize  any  race  of  people 
on  earth  as  her  elect.  If  she  did,  such  a  people 
would  be  compelled  to  remain  intact  from  the 
inroad  of  all  foreign  blood.  That  would  make 


260  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

it  a  distinct  race;  as  distinct  as  the  horse  is  from 
the  ox,  and  amalgamation  would  be  forbidden  by 
Nature. 

There  is  but  one  race  of  people  with  many  dis- 
similarities, necessary  in  the  evolutionary  process 
of  human  kind — and  how  marvelous  to  behold  is 
this  process  at  work! 

ONE  RACE  SAYS  MAXIMO  GOMEZ.- 
In  closing  this  chapter  we  wish  to  present  to  the 
reader  that  memorable  letter,  written  by  Maximo 
Gomez,  the  great  Cuban  patriot,  to  Roman 
Blanco,  the  Spanish  commander,  when  the  same 
proposed  a  union  of  the  revolutionary  forces 
with  the  Spanish  army,  to  drive  out  the  Amer- 
ican invaders. 

"Senor:  Your  audacity  in  again  offering  terms 
of  peace  astonishes  me,  knowing  as  you  do  that 
Cuban  and  Spaniard  can  never  again  live  peace- 
ably on  Cuban  soil.  You  represent  on  this  con- 
tinent an  old  and  bloodstained  monarchy;  we 
fight  for* American  principles — that  of  Wash- 
ington and  Bolivar.  You  say  we  belong  to  the 
same  race,  and  you  invite  me  to  combat  the  for- 
eign invader,  but  you  are  again  mistaken.  There 
is  no  difference  in  blood  and  race.  /  believe  there 
is  only  one  race  of  humanity,  and  for  me  there 
are  but  good  and  wicked  nations.  Spain  has 
been  up  to  the  present  a  wicked  nation.  The 
United  States  is  endeavoring  to  fill  toward  Cuba 
the  duty  of  humanity  and  civilization. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOBARD'S    SPOTS  261 

"Among  classes  and  races,  from  the  savage  In- 
dian to  the  cultured  European,  a  man  is  only 
worthy  of  respect  according  to  his  humanity  and 
noble  sentiments.  In  this  light  I  view  nations. 
I  have  only  admiration  for  the  United  States.  I 
have  written  to  President  McKinley  and  general 
Miles,  thanking  them  for  American  intervention 
in  Cuba. 

"I  do  not  see  the  danger  to  us  from  the  United 
States  to  which  you  refer.  If  it  should  so  hap- 
pen, then  history  will  pronounce  her  judgment. 
For  the  present  I  have  only  to  repeat  that  it  is 
too  late  for  co-operation  between  your  army  and 
mine.  Su  atento  servidor, 

MAXIMO  GOMEZ/' 

RACE  PRIDE  IS  A  POLITICAL  ISSUE 
SOUTH.— Collier's  Weekly  says :  "Probably  it 
would  be  impossible  to  prophesy  a  day  more  un- 
happy for  this  continent  than  the  one  in  which 
the  southern  white  should  abate  one  iota  of  his 
race  pride."  Maximo  Gomez,  whose  letter  we 
quote  above,  perhaps  expresses  the  feelings  of 
the  southern  republics  better  on  this  question 
than  any  one  else.  While  there  is  considerable 
individual  race  pride  among  the  various  classes 
in  the  southern  republics,  it  has  never  ripened  or 
formed  into  a  political  body  or  become  a  polit- 
ical issue  as  in  the  southern  states.  The  southern 
politician  realizes  that  to  "abate  one  iota  of  his 


262  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

race  pride"  means  political  death.  He  is  bound 
to  keep  up  the  race  integrity  cry  for  political 
reasons.  And  it  has  so  far  been  comparatively 
easy  to  rub  it  into  the  blind  intellect  of  an  igno- 
rant populace  and  make  it  "a  go."  Even  the 
black  Negro  (married  to  a  yellow  woman)  has 
contracted  the  disease  and  now  begins  to  set  up 
a  race  integrity  howl.  If  the  Negro  would  be- 
long to  the  same  political  faith  as  the  southern 
oligarchy,  and  be  useful  as  a  political  boost,  it 
would  pat  him  on  the  back  and  call  him  a  good 
brother  and  race  integrity  would  never  find  its 
way  into  politics. 

The  race  integrity  politician  has  filled  the 
South  with  yellow  babies,  and  is  the  parent  of 
several  millions  of  colored  people,  thousands  of 
whom  he  has  disfranchised,  because  the  son  is 
wiser  than  his  father  and  will  not  yield  to  his 
political  wishes — stay  out  of  politics  and  let  papa 
run  things. 

The  race  pride  of  the  South  is  rotten  in  the 
face  of  this  fact!  Its  politics  are  rotten  because 
of  it.  It  is  utterly  degraded! 

Can  a  just  God  have  mercy  on  a  man  who  dis- 
.  franchises  his  own  son  and  degrades  his  own 
sweet-faced  daughter  because  their  skin  is  dark? 
No  calamity  is  too  great  for  a  people  or  a  coun- 
try that  tolerates  such  an  outrage! 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  263 

CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  ANTI-MISCEGENATION   MOVEMENT 

EDITORIALS  FROM  PROMINENT 
SOUTHERN  PAPERS.  — "Judge  Harris 
Dickson,  who  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  a  suc- 
cessful movement  to  give  the  city  of  Vicksburg 
a  clean  government  after  years  of  abuses,  is  now 
engaged  with  other  men  of  equally  high  stand- 
ing in  a  well  organized  effort  to  build  up  a  more 
healthy  demand  for  racial  integrity;  to  prevent 
the  practice  of  miscegenation  and  to  punish 
offenders  of  both  races  who  commit  such  crimes 
against  decency.  The  Anti-Miscegenation 
League  of  Vicksburg  is  extending  its  sphere  of 
influence  over  surrounding  towns,  and,  as  the 
need  for  some  such  work  as  the  league  has  under- 
taken is  very  evident,  the  growth  of  the  move- 
ment may  well  be  expected  to  reach  great  pro- 
portions; not  only  in  the  southern  states,  which 
have  statutes  against  intermarriage  between 
the  races,  but  also  in  the  states  of  the  North, 
which  permit  the  marriage  of  whites  with 
Negroes.  In  his  speeches  on  the  subject  the  Vicks- 
burg novelist,  journalist  and  lawyer  has  used 
very  plain  language,  and,  indeed,  the  question  is 
one  for  plain  discussion  among  men,  with  little 


264  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

place  for  oratory  or  flowers  of  rhetoric.  There 
are  laws  enough  in  the  southern  states  to  punish 
offenders  against  the  rules  of  decency  which 
should  protect  the  country  against  amalgamation 
of  the  races,  but  there  has  not  been  heretofore 
any  general  awakening  of  the  better  elements  in 
the  white  race  to  root  out  existing  evils  threaten- 
ing racial  purity.  One  of  the  methods  of  the 
Anti-Miscegenation  League  to  secure  evidence 
against  offenders  is  the  distribution  among  its 
members,  and  others  in  sympathy  with  its  ob- 
jects, of  printed  blanks  to  be  filled  in  with  the 
names,  addresses  and  habits  of  persons  coming 
under  observation  who  practice  such  misde- 
meanors as  the  league  hopes  to  prevent,  and  to 
punish.  While  this  may  be  effective  in  a  meas- 
ure, those  who  are  leading  the  movement  realize 
that  the  greatest  good  must  be  accomplished  by 
appeals  to  the  higher  instincts  of  'white  men  and 
by  changing  the  current  of  their  thoughts  from 
self-gratification  to  race  knowledge  and  the  im- 
pulse of  racial  protection.  When  the  thought- 
less have  been  made  to  seriously  think,  half  of 
the  battle  will  have  been  won  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  integrity  of  the  Caucasian  tribes  in  Amer- 
ica."— Mobile  Register. 

The  following  editorial  comments  by  the  New 
Orleans  Times-Democrat  show  how  the  move- 
ment is  taking  hold  and  demanding  attention 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  265 

elsewhere  than  in  Mississippi:  "At  a  mass 
meeting  held  last  Tuesday  night  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Port  Gibson,  Miss.,  Law  and 
Order  League,  emphatic  resolutions  denouncing 
miscegenation  were  adopted,  and  the  members 
of  the  league  pledged  themselves  to  a  vigorous 
crusade  for  the  protection  of  race  purity.  Those 
who  addressed  the  meeting  discussed  this  dis- 
gusting evil  in  plain  terms.  No  attempt  was 
made  to  condone  the  faults  of  white  men  who 
are  degrading  themselves  and  their  race  by 
the  practice.  The  attitude  of  the  Mississippi 
leaguers  is  uncompromising.  In  attacking  the 
vile  offense  they  evidently  intend  to  strike  at 
white  offenders  as  well  as  black.  Anti-mis- 
cegenation sentiment,  instinct  'with  right  think- 
ing men  and  women  everywhere,  is  at  last  find- 
ing voice.  The  written  and  spoken  denuncia- 
tions of  the  crime  against  race  have  found 
prompt  and  universal  response.  The  audible 
protest  is  rapidly  increasing  in  volume.  Race 
purity  is  no  longer  a  theory,  it  has  become  an 
issue.  Not  long  ago  the  citizens  of  St.  Francis- 
ville,  La.,  in  mass  meeting  assembled,  declared 
themselves  for  its  suppression.  A  vigorous  anti- 
miscegenation  league  has  been  organized  at 
Vicksburg,  and  now  at  Port  Gibson  the  standard 
of  revolt  has  been  raised  against  the  intolerable 
condition  which  undeniably  exists.  Having  at- 


266  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

tained  the  dignity  of  an  issue,  it  can  be  no  longer 
ignored  in  the  present  campaign  nor  by  the 
Louisiana  legislature  soon  to  be  elected.  The 
secret  influences  which  have  strangled  previous 
anti-miscegenation  measures  will  find  this  work 
dangerous  in  the  light  of  the  present  indignant 
sentiment  of  the  decent  white  people  of  Louis- 
iana. No  man,  or  any  set  of  men  in  official  posi- 
tion, will  dare  oppose  an  anti-miscegenation  bill 
openly.*  None  can  deny  that  the  revolting  prac- 
tice exists  in  Louisiana,  or  that  it  threatens,  not 
alone  untold  damage  to  the  living,  but  future 
disaster.  The  evil  is  repulsive  enough  as  we  see 
it  today,  but  the  logical  consequence  of  its  con- 
tinuance and  tolerance  must  appall  even  those 
degraded  by  its  practice.  There  is  no  defense  for 
miscegenation,  nor  even  a  semblance  of  apology. 
The  ca'ncer  has  eaten  its  way  to  the  surface.  It 
is  hard  to  speak  plainly  upon  such  a  subject,  but 
now  that  the  manhood  of  the  South  has  found 
courage  to  voice  its  views  and  attack  the  evil  in 
open  forum,  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  issue. 
Louisiana  needs  a  law  against  miscegenation, 
with  adequate  and  equal  penalties  for  white  and 
black  violators.  If  every  white  voter  of  the 
state,  who  loves  his  home,  regards  the  welfare 

*The  reader  will  here  observe  that  all  such  anti-miscegenation 
legislation  is  not  designed  to  elevate  but  further  degrade  the 
colored  race.  Legal  intermarriage  would  stop  all  illicit  mixing 
and  elevate  both  races. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  267 

of  his  children  and  glories  in  the  pure  strain  of 
his  blood  will  take  the  field  for  the  enactment 
and  enforcement  of  a  law  to  protect  race  purity 
and  to  enforce  respect  for  common  decency,  the 
long  step  toward  the  preservation  of  a  white 
Louisiana  will  be  taken  at  the  next  regular  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature.  Once  we  secure  the  law, 
we  shall  undoubtedly  find  means  for  its  enforce- 
ment'' 

PROFESSOR  HOLM  WRITES  HON. 
HARRIS  DICKSON.- 

"Hon.  Harris  Dickson, 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  seen  something  in  the 
papers  concerning  the  Anti-Miscegenation  move- 
ment which  you  and  others  represent.  As  a 
scientist  and  investigator,  I  feel  a  deep  interest 
in  this,  and  would  thank  you  very  much  if  you 
would  let  me  know  what  is  being  done  to  check 
illicit  miscegenation  in  the  South.  If  you  have 
any  literature  on  the  subject  that  would  help  to 
enlighten  me,  I  would  feel  grateful  to  you  for 
sending  it  to  me  or  for  informing  me  where  I 
might  obtain  it. 

"Wishing  you  the  best  of  success  in  your  en- 
deavor to  bring  about  better  conditions,  I  am 

Very  truly, 

John  J.  Holm." 


268  HOLM'S  RACE   ASSIMILATION 

HONORABLE  HARRIS  DICKSON 
ANSWERS.— 

"Prof.  John  J.  Holm, 
C ,  Ala. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  your  letter  of  the  izth  inst., 
inquiring  about  the-  Anti-Miscegenation  move- 
ment. 

"Like  yourself,  I  feel  a  deep  interest  in  this 
matter,  and  have  been  somewhat  active  in  stir- 
ring up  public  sentiment  on  the  subject.  Sev- 
eral public  meetings  were  held  here  in  Vicks- 
burg,  and  a  league  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
gathering  information  and  instituting  prosecu- 
tions. jWe  have  thought  it  best,  however,  to 
make  haste  slowly,  and  build  up  such  a  resent- 
ment against  this  practice  as  will  find  expression 
in  the  jury  boxesl 

•  "I  am  enclosing  you  herewith  blanks  for  sig- 
natures of  the  members;  also  what  is  known  as 
an  'information  blank.'  These  information 
blanks  were  sent  out  to  all  who  signed  the  mem- 
bership blanks,  with  the  idea  of  gathering  in- 
formation from  every  quarter  which  can  be  used. 
While  this  has  met  with  some  success,  it  has  not 
been  as  thorough  and  complete  as  I  should  have 
liked  to  see  it.  It  has,  though,  had  the  effect  of 
breaking  up  numbers  of  cases  which  were  very 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  269 

flagrant,  the  people  evidently  fearing  prosecu- 
tion. 

jj'My  own  opinion  is  that  it  will  take  years  of 
agitation  before  our  people  can  be  aroused  to 
treat  seriously  a  condition  which  has  been  re- 
garded as  somewhat  a  matter  of  course  amongst 
the  lowest  class  of  whites] 

"I  shall  be  very  glad  to  give  you  in  the  future 
any  possible  information  on  the  subject. 

Very  truly, 

Harris  Dickson." 

MEMBERSHIP  IN  THE  ANTI-MIS- 
CEGENATION LEAGUE.— "It  being  cur- 
rent rumor  in  Vicksburg  and  Warren  county 
that  certain  degraded  white  men  are  living 
notoriously  in  illicit  relationship  with  Negro 
women  to  the  debasement  of  both  races  and  the 
outrage  of  common  decency; 

"And  it  being  my  firm  belief  that  if  such  in- 
famous practice  exists  that  it  should  be  stamped 
out  by  punishing  the  guilty  ones  according  to 
law  and  exposing  them  to  that  universal  con- 
tempt which  they  deserve, 

"I,  therefore,  agree  to  become  a  member  of 
the  Anti-Miscegenation  League  and  to  furnish 
the  Executive  Committee  thereof  with  such  in- 
formation as  I  may  now  have,  or  which  by  rea- 
sonable inquiry  I  may  hereafter  obtain. 


270  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

"And  I  further  pledge  myself  to  do  everything 
in  my  power  to  arouse  public  sentiment  so  that 
the  laws  prohibiting  this  revolting  crime  may 
be  rigidly  enforced." 


NAME. 


POST  OFFICE  ADDRESS. 


INFORMATION   BLANK 

Fill   out   as   best  you  can,  and  wherever  possible  insert  the  names  of 

witnesses  who  will  swear  to  each  fact.      Then  mail  promptly  to 

Executive  Committee,  Lock  Box  164,  Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Name  of  man 

Name  of  woman • 

Age,  personal  appearance  and  color  of  woman 

Age  of  man 

Exact  location  of  house  • • 

Neighbors   on   either   side    and   opposite.     Particularly   the 
women 


Where  do  they  buy  groceries 

Does  woman  buy  on  man' s  credit 

Who  delivers  milk Bread 

Groceries 

Where  was  the  furniture  bought 

Who  paid  for  it 

Have  they  ever  lived  together  in  any  other  house 
When  does  the  man  enter  and  leave  the  house.  . 


Does  any  other  man  visit  the  house  so  frequently. 

Who  owns  the  house 

Who  pays  the  rent 

How  many  rooms  in  the  house. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  271 

INFORMATION   BLANK -Continued 


Exact  number  and  location  of  beds 

Have  they  ever  been  seen  in  bed  together 

By  whom 

Have  they  ever  been  seen  undressed  together 

Do  they  take  their  meals  together 

What  is  their  manner  and  behavior  towards  each  other  •  • 

What  other  means  of  support  has  the  woman 

Has  the  man  any  other  home 

In  whose  employ  is  the  man 

Has  the  woman  any  children -Their  color 

Whom  do  they  resemble 

How  does  the  man  treat  the  children 

Has  he  ever  acknowledged  them 

Does  the  woman  boast  of  him  as  "her  man" 

Does  she  say  they  are  his  children 

Have  the  parties  ever  been  arrested  for  this  offense 

Who  were  the  witnesses 

What  became  of  the  case 

Has  the  woman  ever  been  arrested  for  any  other  offense 

Who  paid  her  fine 

Who  went  her  bond 


PROFESSOR  HOLM  ANSWERS  DICK- 
SON,  DEFENDING  HIS  POSITION.- 

"Hon.  Harris  Dickson, 
Vicksburg,  Miss. 

Dear  Sir: — I  thank  you  very  much  for  the  in- 
formation you  have  so  kindly  given  me  on  the 
Anti-Miscegenation  movement,  and  especially 
for  your  proffered  assistance  in  the  future, 

I  must  beg  you  to  have  a  little  patience  with 


272  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

me  in  this  letter,  as  I  propose  to  go  somewhat 
into  this  very  perplexing  question  with  you. 

First,  I  must  tell  you  that  I  am  a  Wisconsin 
reared  man,  and  have  studied  the  Negro  in  that 
section;  then  coming  South,  some  years  ago,  I 
have  spent  a  small  fortune  and  considerable  time 
in  study  and  research  along  scientific  lines  in 
various  sections  of  the  South,  covering  every 
phase  of  the  Negro  question.  The  result  of  my 
work,  if  Providence  permits,  will  appear  in  book 
form  in  due  time;  and  should  our  people  of  the 
Southland  reject  to  inaugurate  the  reforms  we 
advocate,  I  am,  with  many  thinking  men  and 
women  of  both  races,  nevertheless,  persuaded 
that  it  would  be  a  rational  and  scientific  solution 
of  the  race  question. 

How  far  you  and  I  agree  is  hard  to  determine 
at  present,  but  in  essentials  we  are  bound  to  agree. 

Facts,  you  know,  are  such  stubborn  things, 
and  you  and  I,  and  all  of  us,  North  and  South, 
who  run  against  them  must  heed  them. 

You  are  indeed  right  when  you  say  that  'We 
have  thought  it  best  to  make  haste  slowly.'  I 
agree  with  you  that  it  will  take  years  to  arouse 
the  southern  people,  to  treat  seriously  this  de- 
plorable state  of  affairs;  and,  to  be  frank  with 
you,  I  must  say  that  from  scientific  observations, 
I  have  become  firmly  convinced  that  conditions 
are  bound  to  become  worse  instead  of  better,  in 
this  regard,  under  the  existing  social  order. 


OR   THE   FADING    LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  273 

I  am  not  a  pessimist  by  any  means,  but  I  be- 
lieve that  it  is  easier  and  more  practicable  to 
tunnel  a  mountain  in  the  construction  of  a  rail- 
road than  to  go  by  detour  a  thousand  miles. 

In  short,  I  am  convinced  that  laws  must  be 
enacted  that  will  conform  to  the  laws  of  Nature, 
and  then  be  rigidly  applied  to  this  glaring  social 
evil  between  the  races. 

Unscientific  agitation  creates  discord  and 
enmity,  and  God  knows  too  much  of  that  kind  of 
crime  has  already  been  committed  by  the  Amer- 
ican people. 

OFFSPRING  MUST  CONSTITUTE 
LEGAL  MARRIAGE.— First,  and  above  all, 
we  (the  southern  states),  must  have  a  law  that 
offspring,  under  all  circumstances,  will  consti- 
tute a  legal  marriage.  What  could  be  done  under 
such  a  law,  which  is  based  upon  natural  prin- 
ciples, is  easy  to  determine. 

Under  such  a  law  all  white  men  throughout 
this  wide  country  who  have  a  white  wife  and 
children,  and  who  are  besides  maintaining  one 
or  more  families  by  Negro  women,  can  be  pros- 
ecuted for  bigamy  and  be  punished  accordingly, 
besides  being  rendered  sterile  through  the  opera- 
tion of  another  law,  which  should  provide  this 
measure  for  all  Negro  and  white  criminals  who 
commit  certain  social  and  other  crimes  against 
society. 

as 


274  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

THOSE  WHO  LIVE  TOGETHER 
MUST  MARRY.  — Secondly,  another  law 
should  provide  for  the  legal  union  of  all  white 
men  and  women  with  Negro  men  and  women, 
with  whom  they  are  determined  to  live.  They 
should  be  compelled  to  marry  instead  of  being 
forced  to  separate.  No  MAN  OR  STATE  ON 
GOD'S  GREEN  EARTH  HAS  A  MORAL  RIGHT  TO 
SEPARATE  A  FAMILY. 

In  fact,  by  a  higher  natural  law -these  cannot 
be  compelled  to  separate.  It  would  be  an  un- 
pardonable crime  against  Nature's  God.  'What 
God  hath  joined  let  no  man  put  asunder.' 

No  haphazard,  unscientific  attempt  at  reform 
can  be  made  along  this  line,  without  aggravating 
this  social  cancer  and  thereby  creating  a  far 
worse  condition.  That  the  Caucasian  race 
would  be  threatened  with  extinction,  or  that  any 
serious  complication  would  arise,  if  legal  unions 
of  this  kind  were  enforced,  is  all  nonsense. 

Why  not  make  lawful  that  which  is  sanctioned 
by  Nature? 

If  Wisconsin,  for  instance,  had  a  Negro  pop- 
ulation of  300,000  instead  of  5,000,  the  laws  there 
in  operation  would  prove  just  as  effective  in  this 
regard,  and  no  evil  would  ensue. 

The  laws,  or  rather  lack  of  laws,  in  this  re- 
spect, gives  the  unscrupulous  whites  and  blacks 
in  the  South  a  free  license  to  commit  this  social 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  275 

crime,  while  the  Negro  girls  of  culture,  as  well 
as  the  lowest  of  the  race,  are  rendered  absolute- 
ly unprotected. 

And  when  we  consider  this,  is  it  any  wonder 
that  the  Negro  race  is  not  morally  progressing 
more  rapidly,  when  the  devil  of  lust  in  both 
races  of  the  South  is  in  relentless  pursuit  of  every 
atom  of  virginity  in  it? 

It  makes  every  drop  of  my  Teutonic  blood 
boil  when  I  see  these  innocent,  sweet-faced 
creatures  led,  as  it  were,  to  the  slaughter,  by  the 
men  of  both  races! 

My  Dear  Sir,  I  beg  your  pardon,  but  I  am  in 
earnest.  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  another 
matter,  which  may  be  considered  the  reverse  of 
what  I  have  just  said. 

SOME  WHITES  ARE  UNDULY  AT- 
TRACTED AMATORIALLY.— In  my  in- 
vestigations I  have  come  across  white  men  and 
women,  North  and  South,  who  are  unduly  at- 
tracted, amatorially,  to  certain  members  of  the 
Negro  race.  I  could  give  scientific  reasons  for 
this  natural  attraction.  That  these  should  be 
classed  among  the  "lowest  whites"  is  an  injustice 
that  should  find  no  lodgment  in  the  minds  of 
true,  free  Americans,  who  are  supposed  to  be  en- 
dowed by  their  Creator  with  inalienable  rights 
of  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and 
advocate  the  same  for  their  fellow  man. 


276 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


FORBIDDEN   FRUIT. 

"The  claim  for  natural  antipathy  between   the  races   is   not   well 
founded." — Professor  William  Pickens. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  277 

Speaking  without  race  prejudice,  as  a  scientist, 
I  find  that  there  is  a  fundamental  cause,  a  divine 
designation,  if  you  please,  that  promotes  such  at- 
traction, apart  from  the  baser,  mere  animal  grat- 
ifications. I  have  nearly  always  found  these 
superbly  adapted  to  those  thus  naturally  at- 
tracted. We  find  paramount  reasons  for  this  in 
the  natural  law  of  dissemination  or  mixing. 

I  know  of  white  women  who  found  their  af- 
finity among  and  were  married  to  colored  men, 
who  were  as  cultured  and  refined  as  the  accom- 
plished Cora  Marie  Arnold,  who  became  the 
bride  of  a  Pueblo  Indian  chief  in  New  Mexico 
who  could  not  speak  English;  but  I  can  here 
give  you  only  examples  of  a  few  men  out  of  many 
hundreds:  Case  No.  i,  a  man,  the  son  of  one  of 
Alabama's  greatest  doctors  of  divinity,  who  oc- 
cupies a  very  prominent  and  responsible  posi- 
tion, is  cultured,  refined,  educated.  Has  for 
years  supported  and  lived  with  a  colored  woman. 
He  loves  her  from  all  appearances,  and  has  no 
white  woman  in  marriage  relation.  He  belongs 
to  the  old  southern  aristocratic  stock. 

Case  No.  2,  a  man  of  fine  mental  training, 
reared  in  the  North,  came  South,  was  at  the  head 
of  a  school;  married  openly  a  cultured  colored 
girl,  and  maintained  her  creditably,  and  in 
honest  wedlock  lived  before  the  people  of  a  large 
southern  city  in  the  far  South. 


278  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

THERE  IS  PLENTY  OF  EVIDENCE.- 

Now,  I  am  sure  that  if  you  are  out  for  a  thorough 
reformation,  and  a  quick  and  rational  solution 
of  this  complicated  question,  you  will  have 
plenty  of  evidence  along  this  line  at  hand  to  con- 
vince you,  as  I  have  been,  that  we  must  do  just 
the  reverse  of  what  has  heretofore  been  at- 
tempted in  ignorance,  with  prejudice  and  ven- 
geance for  a  guide,  instead  of  reason  and  justice. 

I  hope  you  will  not  misunderstand  me.  I  have 
stateq1  "my  case"  from  personal  observations  long 
drawn  out,  and  if  you  have  any  evidence  to  the 
contrary  that  may  modify  or  change  my  view,  I 
shall  be  more  than  glad  to  conform  my  belief  to 
any  newly  discovered  truth  that  will  help  to  un- 
ravel the  mystery  of  the  race  question. 

I  thank  you  for  your  patience  in  the  pursuance 
of  this  long  epistle.  I  have  written  thus,  because 
I  feel  that  you  are  deeply  interested  in  the  mat- 
ters touched  upon,  and  your  judgment  is  of  deep 
interest  and  value  to  me. 

Hoping  to  hear  from  you  again,  I  remain, 
Respectfully  yours, 

John  James  Holm." 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  279 

CHAPTER  XIV 

SOCIAL  VICE  VERSUS  LEGAL  INTERMARRIAGE 

UNNATURAL  CONDITIONS  BE- 
TWEEN THE  RACES  THE  CAUSE  OF 
VICE. — We  have  found  by  careful  investiga- 
tion that  more  than  five  children  are  born  perv 
annum,  in  every  one  thousand  Negro  popula- 
tion in  the  South,  the  progeny  of  a  white  parent. 
From  the  mayor  and  other  influential  men  down 
to  the  common  citizen  are  supporting  and  rear- 
ing families  by  colored  women  in  one  of  the 
prominent  cities  of  the  Gulf,  and  in  many  other 
places  similar  conditions  exist,  yet  the  laws 
strictly  forbid  intermarriage  with  color.  /Many 
of  the  colored  children  of  these  white  fathers 
are  sent  to  the  best  white  and  Negro  schools  in 
the  country,  and  are  the  best  educated  ofjmy 
race.l 

•"•-V"^     J 

[Ninety  per  cent  of  all  the  leaders  of  the  race  \s 
are  the  offspring  of  the  Caucasianjjyet  intermar- 
riage is  prohibited  by  law  in  many  parts  of  the 
country.  The  white  man  has  a  free  license,  un- 
der these  prevailing  conditions  to  rob  a  colored 
girl,  at  will,  of  her  virtue,  and  prepare  her  for 
connection  with  vice,  corrupting  her  morals,  be- 
coming the  mother  of  crime  and  criminals  such 


280  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

as  a  mob  would  delight  to  lynch  and  burn.  We 
have  seen  the  tears  and  heard  the  sobs  of  moth- 
ers, whose  wayward  daughters  in  short  skirts 
had  brought  to  their  hearth  white  babies,  and 
who  are  now  the  inmates  of  the  red  light  dis- 
tricts, there  to  reach  the  lowest  pit  of  shame  and 
moral  degradation. 

We  contend  that  the  colored  woman  DE- 
MANDS SEXUAL  PROTECTION  FOR 
HER  DAUGHTERS.  Legal  intermarriage 
would  strike  the  vital  spot  that  curses  both  races 
in  America.  This  book  tells  how  and  why. 

pn  the  writer's  former  home  in  the  far  South  a 
white  woman  was  the  mother  of  four  colored 
children,  and  three  colored  girls  became  the 
mothers  of  white  children  in  one  year,  in  a 
Negro  population  of  less  than  seven  hundred! 
The  Negro  is  not  becoming  more  and  more 
criminal  every  day,  as  ex-Governor  Vardaman 
says;  but  the  wrong  conditions  under  which  he 
has  lived  so  long  are  becoming  more  and  more 
acute  each  day.  The  time  for  a  decided  change 
is  drawing  near,  no  one  can  dispute  this  fact. 

IS  SHOCKING,  INDEED.— It  must  be 
apparent  to  all  who  have  investigated  and  given 
any  serious  thought  to  the  race  question,  that  it 
would  be  a  safeguard  against  immorality,  and 
for  the  highest  good  of  both  whites  and  blacks, 
if  equal  sexual  protection  was  extended  to  both 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  281 

races,  and  vigorously  enforced  in  every  section 
of  the  country.  As  long  as  the  sexual  relations 
with  and  among  these  people  are  ignored  in  a 
large  section  of  thickly  settled  Negro  popula- 
tion, it  is  practically  impossible  to  infuse  a  bet- 
ter moral  tone  among  them  and  the  white  men 
and  women  who  are  bent  on  mixing.  In  the 
congested  quarters  of  some  southern  cities  liber- 
tinism has  become  a  vocation  among  them  and 
the  whites  that  must  be  appalling,  even  to  the 
sophisticated.  And  that  white  women  should 
brazenly  set  the  debasing  example  in  plying 
their  unholy  vocation,  is  shocking  indeed!  To 
illustrate,  we  will  take  but  one  case  in  a  Gulf 
city  from  personal  investigation.  From  their 
quarters  in  this  city  white  women  employ  Negro 
men  to  go  about  the  public  square  and  solicit 
"trade,"  and  to  conduct  men  by  carriages  to  the 
dens  of  infamy  of  these  degraded  white  women. 
And  this  "business"  is  said  to  be  under  the  city's 
authority! 

The  statement  of  a  prominent  Chicago  news- 
paper man  that  southern  cities  are  more  moral 
than  northern  cities  is  far  from  being  true  if  one 
compares  them  size  for  size.  In  this  way  col- 
ored men  and  women  have  been  brutally  taught 
the  lessons  of  vice,  and  as  a  consequence  have  a 
low  opinion  of  all  whites  in  this  regard.  South- 
ern cities  have  houses  of  illfame  frequented  by 


282 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


WHEN  PAPA  IS  AT  HOME. 

Beautiful  homes  are  found  in  which  love  and  happiness  reign 
supreme,  presided  over  by  sweet-faced  brown  women,  whose  children 
are  fathered  by  white  gentlemen  of  culture. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  283 

white  men  who  are  not  only  patronizing  those  of 
white  women,  but  are  degrading  themselves  with 
the  foulest  scum  of  Negro  depravity;  poisoning 
their  bodies  and  damning  their  souls! 

There  are  certain  men  and  women  of  both 
races  who  are  bent  on  mixing — there  is  a  natural 
law  that  seems  to  impel  them  to  seek  their  affin- 
ity among  a  people  not  of  their  race.  But  in  the 
South  there  is  no  hope  of  them  living  in  true 
wredlock  and  respectability  together.  These  are 
consequently  encouraged  to  drop  into  the  foul 
stream  and  land  somewhere  at  the  bottom.  Do 
our  readers  catch  the  thought  we  wish  to  con- 
vey? A  respectable  white  man  and  colored 
woman,  or  a  colored  man  and  white  woman, 
cannot  walk  the  streets  of  many  southern  cities 
together  without  being  arrested  and  imprisoned. 
It  does  not  matter  whether  the  officers  of  the  law 
are  themselves  supporting  a  colored  woman  and 
children;  the  law  must  be  upheld  and  the  color 
line  observed.  This  crookedness  is  the  cause  of 
so  much  moral  debauchery.  Neither  the  white 
man  nor  the  colored  woman  (saying  nothing 
about  the  colored  man  and  white  woman)  have 
the  least  encouragement  to  live  a  good  moral 
life  together;  on  the  contrary  the  vials  of  hell 
and  all  the  angels  thereof  are  poured  upon  them, 
should  they  attempt  to  defy  the  existing  custom 
of  illicit  mixing  and  proclaim  themselves  man 


284 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


Beautiful  white  children  born  to  brown  mother  and  full  Cau- 
casian father  in  Alabama.  The  lower  one  has  beautiful  golden 
hair  and  sky-blue  eyes. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  285 

and  wife.  There  is  no  other  place  in  the  civil- 
ized world  today,  save  in  these  United  States, 
where  intelligent  men  and  women  of  two  races 
are  prohibited  to  enter  the  holy  bond  of  matri- 
mony, and  are  thereby  encouraged  to  live  a  life 
of  shame  together.  In  the  southern  republics 
there  is  not  even  such  a  vile  prohibition.  In 
fact,  the  Catholic  Church  has  always  exhibited 
a  liberal  spirit  in  this  regard,  and  where  she 
dominates  a  more  intimate  and  natural  relation 
exists  between  the  races.  This  fact  is  evident 
in  the  rising  republic,  Brazil,  in  whose  capital 
many  of  the  wealthiest,  most  influential  and  aris- 
tocratic people  have  Negro  blood  in  their  veins. 
JEven  in  New  Orleans,  Mobile  and  other  cities 
where  Catholics  are  strong,  the  races  have  suc- 
ceeded in  mixing  more  naturally  than  in  the 
more  Protestant  centers  of  the  South]  And  not 
only  this,  there  has  been  considerable  less  fric- 
tion between  them  where  the  Catholic  religion 
has  more  closely  united  them,  instead  of  divid- 
ing them,  as  is  the  case  in  Protestant  denomina- 
tions. The  Catholic  Church  is  the  only  one  we 
know  of  where  both  colors  can  worship  together 
in  the  same  building  in  the  old  slave  states. 

THE  ETHICAL  SIDE  MUST  BE  CON- 
SIDERED.— Solomon,  the  wise  man  of  old, 
said,  "To  every  thing  there  is  a  season."  The 
men  who  run  the  political  machinery  in  the 


286  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

South  have  passed  laws  prohibiting  the  mixing 
of  the  races,  yet  the  mixing  process  has  con- 
tinued, in  some  cases  by  the  law  makers  as  well 
as  the  people  whom  they  serve.  It  has  been 
found  that  such  prohibition  does  not  prohibit, 
but  rather  encourages  and  invites  both  races  to 
degrade  their  morals.  The  most  urgent  need  is 
a  general  reformation  in  both  races.  They  have 
gone  far  enough,  and  the  time  has  come,  we  be- 
lieve, when  there  ought  to  be  brought  about  a 
reaction.  The  old  relations  have  been  tried  and 
found  wanting.  Both  races  stand  guilty  before 
the  ethical  world ;  the  white  more  than  the  col- 
ored. It  is  a  pity,  indeed,  if  they  do  not  feel 
a  sense  of  shame!  Now,  let  the  right  relations 
be  tried.  Let  all  whites  and  colored  who  affil- 
iate be  brought  under  a  special  marriage  pro- 
vision, and  let  the  immoral  features  of  the  amal- 
gamation process  be  abolished. 

Our  position  is  the  true,  ethical  one,  and  will 
be  universally  conceded  as  right  by  all  people  of 
moral  principles. 

FORBIDDEN  FRUIT  IS  SWEETEST. 
-There  is  more  true  philosophy  in  this  than  ap- 
parent at  first  thought.  Forbidden  fruit  is  al- 
ways sweetest.  Says  the  author,  George  Barr 
McCutcheon:'*  "Tell  a  young  man  that  he  shall 
not  marry  a  young  woman  outside  of  a  certain 
limited  class  or  group,  and  he  is  less  than  hu- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  28? 

man  if  he  does  not  promptly  fall  in  love  with  a 
girl  who  belongs  to  the  forbidden  multitude. 
And  it  is  quite  natural  that  a  high  spirited  girl, 
who  is  elected  by  the  laws  of  her  royal  or  aris- 
tocratic station  to  marry  a  certain  man,  should 
find  another  man  of  a  different  station,  far  more 
attractive." 

While  the  American  people,  especially  of  the 
South,  are  sorely  afflicted  with  colorphobia,  the 
fact  has  never  been  disputed  that  the  "colored 
fruit"  is  both  sweet  and  pretty.  We  have  often 
heard  it  said  that  all  "niggers  are  alike,"  but  we 
do  not  remember  having  heard  that  all  Negroes 
are  homely.  The  Creole,  and  other  women  of 
mixed  blood  in  the  South,  are  the  prettiest  in 
America.  They  may  lose  their  beauty  much 
younger  than  women  of  northern  states,  but 
while  young  they  excel  all  others  in  vivacity  and 
feminine  magnetism.  And  there  is  a  class  of  the 
black  type  with  delicately  shaped,  small  mouth, 
high  narrow  nose,  large  expressive  black  eyes 
and  a  mass  of  long,  wavy  black  hair,  who  would 
be  considered  beautiful  anywhere  where  a  black 
skin  is  not  a  disgrace.  Indeed,  their  black  skin 
seems  to  heighten  their  beauty  and  enhance  their 
charms.  They  have  finely  carved  figures  and 
are  generally  strong  in  body  and  well  sexed. 

We  believe  that  the  dreaded  time  will  come 
when  many  more  respectable  white  men  will  find 


288 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


A   SWEET,   DARK  BRIDE. 
Now,  let  the  right  relations  be  tried. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  289 

their  affinities  among  these  women,  and  when 
such  affiliations  will  be  legalized  and  made  re- 
spectable. And  why  not?  The  illicit  mixing 
must  be  stopped.  Is  rendering  this  respectable 
a  greater  crime  than  the  present  commingling  in 
the  dark?  It  must  be  a  depraved  soul  indeed 
who  winks  at  the  present  illicit  mixing,  and  af- 
firms it  the  only  possible  method  to  "keep  the 
races  separated."  Will  the  South  forever  cling 
to  the  old,  debasing  traditions?  If  this  be  so, 
then  it  must  finally  be  swept  aside  by  a  tidal  wave 
of  progress  and  a  higher  ethical  standard,  that 
will  usher  in  a  new  order  of  things. 

ALL  RACES  MELTED  TOGETHER 
HERE. — There  are  other  times,  other  peoples 
and  other  conditions,  as  the  world  moves  on  into 
other  ages.  Lord  Rosebery  said  in  a  speech  be- 
fore the  Philosophical  Institution  in  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland,  some  time  ago:  "The  United 
States  is  a  great  crucible  in  which  the  metals  of 
every  race  and  nation  under  the  sun  are  being 
melted  together.  Will  this  result  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  perfect  man  of  the  future  or  in  an 
entirely  new  type  hitherto  unknown  to  anthro- 
pologists, which  will  be  the  subject  of  study  by 
the  older  races  of  the  globe?  We  are  in  a  quasi- 
paternal  position  to  look  forward  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  experiment  with  almost  breathless 
expectancy." 

19 


290  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

Who  can  tell?  The  amalgamation  of  the 
races  in  America  may  finally  produce,  scientifi- 
cally, a  new  race  of  men.  It  is  up  to  the  people 
of  this  country  whether  the  Afro-American  shall 
be  included  in  the  production  of  this  new  race 
of  men  by  a  legal  intermarriage,  or  by  illicit 
mixing. 

Those  who  believe  that  this  mixing  process 
will  cease  when  the  Negro  has  attained  higher 
educational  advantages,  do  not  know  the  signs 
of  the  times.  We  fully  demonstrate  elsewrhere 
in  this  work  that  the  law  of  dissemination  will 
continue  to  scatter  the  races  of  the  world,  and 
finally  assimilate  all.  This  little  globe  will  soon 
prove  too  small  to  keep  any  certain  class  or  race 
separate  and  distinct  from  all  others  And  in 
these  United  States,  where  all  classes  and  races 
have  gathered,  it  is  a  gross  folly  to  prohibit  in- 
termarriage in  any  shape  or  form.  Nature  al- 
ways endeavors  to  produce  her  best.  Let  the 
state  guard  against  the  propagation  of  the  crim- 
inal, imbecile,  insane  and  idiot,  which  a  wrong 
social  condition  has  produced,  and  we  shall  soon 
evidence  an  all-round  improvement.  When  the 
laws  of  man  do  not  interfere  with  the  operation 
of  Nature's  laws,  man  will  prosper  in  the  pro- 
duction of  better  and  higher  types  of  physical 
and  mental  perfection  in  the  crossing  of  the 
races.  As  an  example,  we  will  say  that  if  the 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  291 

white  Negroes  (those  of  very  little  Negro  blood) 
were  prohibited  from  mixing  with  the  black 
Negro,  as  many  believe  they  ought  to  be, 
Nature's  method  of  dissemination  would  be  de- 
feated, and  rapid  degeneracy  would  result 
among  them.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  those  of 
slight  Negro  taint  are  not  physically  adapted  to 
each  other  in  marriage.  If  they  follow  the  voice 
or  inclination  of  their  inner  nature,  they  invar- 
iably find  their  affinity  among  the  intensely 
black.  Nature  prompts  them  to  do  so,  and  it 
is  right.  Their  offspring  are,  in  most  cases, 
superior  to  either  the  black  or  yellow  who  pro- 
duce together. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  is  not  the  product  of  a  few 
generations,  neither  will  the  colored  Caucasian 
be.  The  complete  assimilation  of  various  races 
consumes  centuries.  The  black  skin  will  not 
disappear  as  rapidly  as  some  may  suppose.  In 
the  melting  together  of  the  races,  variety  is  the 
greatest  charm;  and  the  country  which  possesses 
such  a  variety  today  is  indeed  rich  in  future, 
possible  development.  Any  country  which  can 
boast  of  but  one  race  of  people  is  in  danger  of 
retrogression.  It  is  the  melting  together  of  var- 
ious races  that  insures  future  stamina  and  prog- 
ress. Germany  is  dying  with  cancer,  France  is 
facing  sterility  in  her  women.  Of  the  20,000,000 
people  inhabiting  Spain,  only  about  thirty-five 


•292  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

per  cent  can  read  and  write;  another  two  and 
one-half  per  cent  of  the  population  can  read 
without  being  able  to  write,  but  the  remaining 
sixty-two  and  one-half  per  cent  are  absolute  ill- 
iterates. The  Afro-American  is  assured  of  a 
greater  future  than  the  Spaniard,  the  French- 
man or  the  German  at  home.  His  blood  will 
course  through  millions  of  people  when  the  old 
races  of  Europe  have  long  been  absorbed  by 
other  rising  races  of  foreign  blood. 

We  have  made  these  foregoing  remarks  to 
show  the  reader  that  the  future  welfare  of  our 
country  demands  a  general  reformation  of  the 
sex-relations  between  the  races.  Nearly  fifty 
years  of  unlawful  cohabiting  between  the  eman- 
cipated slave  and  dominant  race  has  caused 
enough  shame  and  misery  to  be  forever  rele- 
gated to  the  ignorance  and  licentiousness  of  the 
past. 

EVIDENCES  OF  FORTY-FIVE  YEARS 
ILLICIT  MIXING.— There  are  many  people 
in  the  South  who  deny  that  mixing  takes  place 
to  any  extent,  but  all  evidences  point  to  the  con- 
trary. We  have  made  careful  inquiry  in  many 
places.  In  a  certain  large  city  we  found  about 
one-fourth  of  the  Negro  population  apparently 
full-blood,  or  at  least  dark;  and  one-half  ranged 
from  brown  to  a  yellow,  while  one-fourth  ranged 
from  yellow  to  white.  We  found  a  large  num- 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  293 

her  of  white  men  rearing  families  by  colored 
women,  from  the  most  influential  citizen  down  to 
the  common  resident.  Some  of  these  women  lived 
in  beautiful  houses  surrounded  by  wealth  and 
luxury,  their  children  receiving  the  best  school- 
ing obtainable  in  leading  white  and  Negro  col- 
leges. We  found  these  women  true  to  their 
men,  and  kind,  lovable  mothers.  On  the  other 
hand  we  saw  the  evil  side  of  this  process  of  mix- 
ing— hundreds  of  girls  in  their  teens  with  white 
babies!  At  the  close  of  the  war,  we  were  told> 
there  were  very  few  "bright  mulattoes"  in  the 
city,  the  great  bulk  of  Negro  population  being 
black.  This,  we  believe,  points  strongly  toward 
the  fact  that  there  must  have  been  an  unusual 
amount  of  illicit  miscegenation  since  the  war. 
Fifty  years  hence  there  will  be  no  black  Negroes, 
as  far  as  this  city  is  concerned,  if  the  present  rate 
of  mixing  continues.  What  is  the  use  of  deny- 
ing these  things?  The  evidences  of  this  deplor- 
able condition  are  met  in  every  city,  hamlet  and 
cross  road. 

We  want  legal  intermarriages,  not  because  we 
desire  them,  but  because  there  is  no  other  way 
out  of  the  present  deplorable  condition.  A  judge, 
who  presided  over  a  municipal  court  in  Georgia, 
believes  that  the  man  who  mixes  ought  to  be 
hung  and  the  woman  put  in  prison  for  life. 
Supposing  the  South  undertook  to  establish 


294  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

such  a  barbarous  law,  would  that  prevent  mis- 
cegenation? Never.  When  a  doctor  is  called 
in  to  treat  a  sick  man,  if  he  is  a  wise,  up-to-date 
physician,  he  will  say:  "I  will  assist  Nature  all 
1  can  and  let  her  run  her  course,  and  he  will 
come  out  all  right ;  if  not,  God  alone  can  save.  To 
give  him  drastic  medicine — powerful  poison- 
may  kill  him  and  I  would  be  the  cause  of  his 
death."  A  state,  like  a  wise  physician,  must  let 
Nature  run  her  course,  applying  such  remedies 
(laws)  as  may  best  eliminate  the  wrongs  of  so- 
ciety, and  bring  about  harmony,  purity  and 
peace.  If  the  state  meddles  with  the  inherent 
rights  of  the  subject,  in  the  destruction  of  his 
peace  and  happiness,  making  unlawful  that 
which  he  considers  essential  to  his  individual 
well-being,  causing  him  to  commit  crime  in  ob- 
taining his  end,  then  the  state  is  administering 
powerful  poisons  which  may  kill  the  body  pol- 
itic and  cause  anarchy  and  death  to  reign. 

In  the  above  argument  we  do  not  mean  to  con- 
vey the  idea  that  we  would  sanction  or  encour- 
age the  black  brute,  or  for  that  matter  the  white 
one,  to  obtain  any  legal  sexual  relation  with  a 
white  or  colored  woman.  We  do  not  believe  in 
the  propagation  of  brutes  in  human  form,  white 
or  black. 

We  believe  in  a  sanctified  sexual  relation,  for 
the  purpose  of  procreation  only.  Any  other 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  295 

sexual  relation  is  prostitution,  and  the  state  ought 
to  punish  this  crime  and  protect  society  against 
it.  But  we  believe  it  is  the  basest  outrage  for 
any  state  in  the  Union  to  prohibit  any  respect- 
able man  and  woman  of  any  two  races  in  it  to 
unite  in  legal  marriage,  classing  them  with  the 
lewd  and  vicious,  causing  social  ostracism  and 
a  legal  persecution  that  tends  to  debasement  and 
criminality.  We  believe  this  country  would  be 
far  better  off  without  any  marriage  laws  than  to 
have  pernicious  ones  that  encourage  crime. 

The  American  people,  who  ought  to  be  the 
most  democratic  on  earth,  are  the  narrowest, 
most  selfish,  unreasonable  creatures  of  any  civ- 
ilized beings  in  the  world  today.  They  are 
more  exclusive  and  prejudiced  than  were  the 
ancient  Hebrews  against  foreign  races,  yet  they 
cross-breed  more  extensively! 

CANNOT  PREVENT  LOVE  BUT 
WOULD  NOT  ADVISE  MARRIAGE.- 
We  refer  to  Miss  Ovington,  a  white  woman  of 
the  Negro  settlement  work  in  New  York,  as  re- 
ported by  an  interviewer  after  the  famous  dinner 
for  whites  and  blacks  at  the  Cosmopolitan  Club, 
which  was  so  extensively  discussed  in  the  south- 
ern newspapers  in  1908.  She  was  asked:  "Do 
you  believe  in  intermarriage  of  the  whites  and 
blacks?"  "No,"  she  said,  "I  do  not  believe  in 
the  marriage  of  blacks  and  whites.  I  do  not  go 


296  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

that  far.  But  I  do  advocate  the  freest  mingling 
of  the  races.  There  is  no  reason  why  white  per- 
sons should  not  meet  cultured  Negro  men  and 
women  on  terms  of  absolute  equality.  How  can 
you  better  arrive  at  a  solution  of  the  Negro 
problem  than  by  consultation  and  co-operation 
with  the  intelligent  blacks? 

"But  I  would  not  hesitate  to  accept  an  invita- 
tion to  dine  with  a  Negro,  just  as  I  would  not 
hesitate  to  meet  with  a  Japanese,  although  I 
think  marriage  with  a  Japanese  is  as  physically 
bad  as  with  a  Negro." 

"So  if  a  young  Negro  met  and  fell  in  love 
with  a  white  girl  of  the  tenement  you  would  not 
advocate  their  manage?"  was  asked. 

"No,  it  would  not  be  'judicious,'  "  was  her 
answer. 

If  Miss  Ovington  believes  it  is  not  judicious  for 
a  colored  man  and  white  girl,  who  love  each 
other,  to  marry,  what  does  she  mean?  Is  she, 
a  northern  woman,  a  believer  in  the  custom  of 
illicit  mixing  prevalent  in  the  South?  Must 
they  live  together  out  of  wedlock?  Is  that  her 
idea?  Or  does  she  advocate  the  barbarous 
method  of  stifling  the  affections,  the  blighting 
of  two  lives,  the  tearing  apart  of  two  souls,  just 
because  there  is  a  difference  in  the  color  of  their 
skin? 

Miss  Ovington  does  not  know  the  up-to-date. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


297 


Children  born  to  Caucasian  mothers  and  Negro  fathers  in 
Alabama.     Notice  the  cranium  capacity  of  the  boy  baby. 


298  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

independent  woman,  who  will  have  her  own 
way  in  the  choice  of  her  affinity  and  husband,  be 
he  a  Negro,  Chinaman,  Japanese  or  English 
nobleman. 

The  very  idea  of  depriving  the  new  American 
woman  of  the  right  to  choose,  whom  she  intui- 
tively knows  is,  the  man  she  wants! 

The  Jap  has  been  debarred  from  this  country 
— there  are  influences  at  work  which  try  to  ex- 
clude him  entirely — yet  within  the  last  few 
years  there  have  been  more  intermarriages  be- 
tween white  American  wromen  and  the  "dear  lit- 
tle yellow  man"  than  ever  before.  Among  many 
are  Dorothy  Russell,  the  daughter  of  Lillian 
Russell,  the  prima  dona,  who  astonished  her 
friends  by  marrying  a  wealthy  Japanese,  for- 
merly of  New  York.  More  recently  Miss  Helen 
Gladys  Emery,  the  accomplished  daughter  of 
Archbishop  Emery,  traveled  a  thousand  miles  to 
marry  a  middle  class  Japanese,  a  former  servant 
of  her  fathers  house.  California  prohibits  in- 
termarriage with  Japanese,  but  she  found  the 
usual  way  in  going  to  another  state  more  Amer- 
ican. We  have  not  space  to  give  further  illus- 
trations. Newspapers  report  many  cases  through- 
out the  country. 

SHOULD  BE  NO  ADMIXTURE  OF 
RACIAL  STOCK.— Now  comes  to  the  front 
the  retired  President  Eliot,  of  Harvard  Uni- 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  209 

versity,  declaring  at  Montgomery,  Alabama, 
while  traveling  through  the  South,  that  "there 
should  be  no  admixture  of  racial  stock" — and 
that  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  the  races  have 
mixed  throughout  all  the  history  of  the  world, 
and  that  he  himself  is  the  product  of  such  admix- 
ture. He  further  is  reported  to  have  said:  "I 
believe,  for  example,  that  the  Irish  should  not 
intermarry  with  the  American  of  English  de- 
scent (they  are  already  mixed)  ;  that  the  Ger- 
mans should  not  marry  the  Italians,  that  the 
Jews  should  not  marry  the  French.  The  ex- 
perience of  civilization  shows  that  racial  stocks 
are  never  mixed  with  profit,  and  that  such  un- 
ions do  not  bring  forth  the  best  and  strongest 
children."  If  this  statement  were  true  then  the 
Anglo-Saxon  must  be  a  very  unprofitable  nation 
of  imbeciles,  for  any  small  schoolboy  can  tell 
Dr.  Eliot  out  of  what  material  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  is  built.  At  one  time,  so  history  says,  the 
Romans  found  an  unmixed  savage  race  in  Great 
Britain,  of  such  a  low,  degraded  order  that  they 
thought  such  poor  stock  would  never  make  de- 
cent slaves.  Out  of  that  degraded  human  ani- 
mal the  present  proud,  dominant  Anglo-Saxon 
evolved  by  the  admixture  of  yarious  foreign 
blood,  viz.,  Roman,  German,  Dane,  etc. 

Dr.  Eliot  says  further:     "There  is  no  reason, 
however,  why  the  races    cannot   live    together, 


300  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

side  by  side,  in  perfect  peace  and  unity.  In  the 
case  of  the  Negroes  and  the  whites,  the  races 
should  be  kept  apart  in  every  respect.  The 
South  has  a  'wise  policy."  How  little  this  gen- 
tleman knows  about  the  South  and  her  policy, 
or  the  tendencies  of  the  races  thereof? 

It  is  a  beautiful  theory — the  various  races  in 
America  living  side  by  side  in  sweet  harmony, 
yet — "be  kept  apart  in  every  respect."  Angels 
might  be  induced  to  live  thus — man  never. 
When  Eve  offered  the  forbidden  fruit  to  Adam, 
"He  did  eat."  Nature  ordained  it  so,  God 
willed  it,  man  obeyed.  If  the  pink-skinned, 
so-called  white  race,  considers  it  a  crime  in  the 
South  to  pass  intermarriage  laws  for  a  particular 
class  of  white  and  colored  people,  the  present 
custom  of  illicit  mixing  is  a  far  greater  crime. 
Rather  than  to  continue  this  crime,  the  lesser  one 
of  a  legal  union  would  prove  a  virtue  that  the 
world  of  today  and  the  future  generations  of 
this  embittered  Southland  would  applaud. 

»  This  "hair-splitting,"  race  dividing  business  is 
often  ridiculous  to  behold.  Many  times  the 
conductors  on  the  street  cars  and  trains  must  ask 
the  passengers,  "Are  you  white  or  colored?" 
Sometimes  a  dark  man,  who  goes  out  walking 
with  a  white  colored  woman,  is  arrested  for 
walking  with  a  white  woman.  He  is  held  in 
prison  until  it  is  proven,  beyond  all  doubt,  that 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  301 

she  has  two  and  one-half  drops  of  Negro  blood 
in  her  veins  and  is  a  "nigger."  This  "mixed 
race  stock"  can  intermarry  with  the  blackest 
Negro  man  or  woman  in  the  South,  but  with  the 
pure  blood  whites  ( ?)  this  stock  must  only  "mix 
in  the  dark." 

The  long  haired  Mississippian  contends  that 
"the  Negro  is  bent  on  raping  white  women,  be- 
cause he  wants  social  equality."  This  state- 
ment is  not  a  true  one.  He  has  in  his  own  race 
a  wide  range  of  color,  from  the  whitest  to  the 
blackest  woman,  and  has  no  urgent  desire  to 
marry  a  full  Caucasian  woman. 

Where  it  is  necessary  to  resort  to  this  hair- 
splitting race  division,  is  it  possible,  as  Dr.  Eliot 
says,  that  the  races  "be  kept  apart  in  every  re- 
spect?" 

THE  MEN  WHO  ARE  BENT  ON  MIX- 
ING.— It  is  not  the  northern  yankee  who  feels 
called  upon  to  mix  with  the  colored  races.  The 
French  have  mixed  more  with  the  Indians  of  the 
northern  states,  Gulf  coast  and  Canada,  than  all 
other  races  put  together.  The  yankee  has  mixed 
extensively  with  the  Irish,  German,  Scotch  and 
others,  whose  parents  came  to  the  United  States 
within  the  last  hundred  years.  The  progeny  of 
the  New  England  yankee  and  the  German  is  the 
finest  stock  in  America.  It  has  the  shrewd  char- 
acteristics of  the  yankee  and  the  plodding, 
thrifty,  saving  of  the  German. 


302  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

In  the  southern  states  there  has  been  very  little 
admixture  of  blood  for  several  hundred  years, 
save  with  the  Negro  and  Indian.  Only  within 
recent  years,  since  migration  from  the  northern 
states  has  become  general,  has  the  mixing  pro- 
cess with  foreign  Caucasian  blood  commenced. 
Because  of  the  mixing  with  the  Negro  for  so 
many  generations,  many  southern  men  have  in- 
herited an  irresistible  desire  for  illicit  sexual 
connection  with  the  Negress,  or  with  any  other 
dark  race,  such  as  the  Indian. 

To  illustrate  this  point  we  will  recite  just  one 
case  here.  A  South  Carolinian  went  to  Mon- 
tana to  make  his  home.  He  missed  the  Negro 
there,  but  found  the  Indian.  He  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  make  love  to  a  pretty  Indian  maiden, 
named  Mary  La  Brecka,  of  the  Blackfoot  In- 
dians. She  would  not  consent  to  the  southern 
method  of  illicit  union  he  was  accustomed  to  with 
the  Negress.  He  was  determined  to  have  her 
so  he  married  her.  Then  his  trouble  began,  for 
he  had  a  white  wife  in  another  place  who  soon 
discovered  his  exploits.  He  was  arrested  and 
prosecuted  for  bigamy.  His  white  wife  pro- 
cured a  divorce,  and  besides  a  fine  and  imprison- 
ment he  was  sentenced  by  the  judge  to  "remarry 
the  Indian  woman."  He  did  this  without  a 
protest. 

This  example  of  the  northwest  gives  us  a  clear 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  303 

idea  of  what  the  southern  states  might  accom- 
plish in  the  way  of  a  moral  uplift,  if  the  same 
laws  were  here  in  force  and  faithfully  applied, 
as  did  Judge  Hunt  of  Montana. 

Supposing  this  little  Indian  maiden  had  been 
a  resident  of  South  Carolina,  and  had  been  se- 
duced by  a  white  rascal  as  thousands  of  colored 
maidens  are  every  year  in  that  and  all  the  other 
southern  states,  what  would  have  been  the  re- 
sults? She  would  have  been  an  outcast,  blighted, 
disgraced,  brokenhearted  being,  with  a  white 
baby  in  her  arms,  that  is  all.  No  protection  by 
law,  no  redress,  nothing,  nothing.  The  law  of 
that  state  says  the  colored  and  white  races  must 
not  marry,  as  it  does  in  the  other  un-American 
states  of  our  free  (  ?)  country.  The  weak,  inno- 
cent, defenseless  may  suffer — that's  nothing.  We 
must  preserve  the  integrity  of  our  race  at  any 
cost. 

COMPELLED  TO  ADVOCATE  LEGAL 
INTERMARRIAGE.— As  a  careful  student 
of  man,  and  as  a  scientist  without  prejudice  we 
are  compelled  to  advocate,  as  the  lesser  evil, 
legal  intermarriage.  On  the  other  hand  all  his- 
tory testifies  that  the  mixed  races  of  the  world 
have  been  the  foremost,  and  that  Nature  com- 
pels mixing  for  evolutionary  growth;  that  the 
Anglo-Saxon  is  but  one  example  in  many  of  such 
a  growth,  evolved  out  of  one  of  the  most  unprom- 


304  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ising  savage  races  as  its  foundation.  Again,  any 
one  who  has  investigated  the  conditions  in  the 
South,  and  has  found,  many  times,  the  love,  fidel- 
ity and  absolute  devotion  between  the  good  men 
and  women  of  the  races,  cannot,  with  a  heart  for 
love  of  liberty  and  justice,  advocate  a  system  or 
uphold  a  law  that  will  tear  asunder  hearts  and 
families  and  homes  that  God  Almighty  has  es- 
tablished and  blessed.  If  the  South  is  today 
pursuing  a  just  policy,  its  crop  of  illicit  births 
testify  that  it  is  founded  on  hell!  To  continue 
to  advocate  the  South's  policy  of  separation  in 
the  day  and  mixing  in  the  dark,  will  in  time  en- 
tirely obliterate  every  atom  of  moral  sense  in 
both  races,  and  both  will  sink  into  hopeless  de- 
pravity. 

If  a  colored  woman  is  good  enough  to  co- 
habit with,  she  is  good  enough  to  become  the 
lawful  wife  of  the  white  man.  He  must  marry 
her  as  does  the  colored  man  his  white  wife  in 
the  North. 

THE  TRUE  STATE  OF  THE  COL- 
ORED WOMAN.— Our  object  here  is  to  lay 
before  the  reader  the  true  state  many  colored 
women  are  in  today,  and  the  conditions  under 
which  they  are  forced  to  live. 

We  are  conscious  of  the  fact  that  the  two 
races  are  mixing  more  today  than  ever  before. 
The  race  of  mulattoes  is  increasing.  And  while 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  305 

this  is  true  the  same  custom  which  existed  dur- 
ing slavery  times  still  prevails,  and  the  colored 
woman  is  a  slave  to  it.  With  all  her  wisdom, 
refinement  and  intelligence  acquired  during  the 
past  forty-five  years,  she  has  not  yet  exercised 
herself,  with  few  exceptions,  in  the  demand  of 
a  legal  union  with  her  paramour  of  another 
color.  She  is  still  content  to  remain  the  tool  of 
the  passions  of  more  than  twenty-five  per  cent  of 
the  white  men  of  the  South,  with  whom  she  has 
criminal  sexual  connections.  She  is  still  con- 
tent to  be  branded  before  the  civilized  world  as 
the  mother  of  a  race  of  bastards.  She  has  all 
the  attributes  which  go  to  make  an  ideal  wife 
and  mother,  but  she  has  not  the  moral  stamina  to 
make  one  under  the  present  terrible  adverse  con- 
ditions. These  conditions  have  so  depleted  her 
moral  sense  of  decency  that  she  has  only  a  flick- 
ering idea  of  sexual  purity.  Is  not  our  civiliza- 
tion to  blame,  that  has  made  her  what  she  is? 

She  is  religious — very  religious,  but  all  her 
religious  exercises  and  exaltations  do  not  incul- 
cate in  her  the  necessity  of  moral  purity,  which 
should  prevent  her  from  indulging  sexual  con- 
nections with  more  than  one  man,  or  only  with 
the  colored  or  white  man  she  loves.  This  is 
true  with  many  exceptions  of  the  higher,  respon- 
sible class. 

When  some  leading  men  and  women  of  the 

20 


306  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

races  are  asked  to  give  their  opinion  as  to  the 
best  method  that  might  be  pursued  to  rid  the 
races  of  this  degrading  condition  which  will 
finally  land  both  into  utter  ruin,  the  majority 
exclaim — "Why!"  Then  they  will  explain  to 
you  that  they  do  not  advocate  social  equality,  or 
miscegenation,  or  amalgamation,  or  any  other 
thing  that  will  in  any  way  interfere  with  the 
present  debasing  practices  between  them. 

There  is  a  fearful  spirit  manifested  here  that 
does  not  become  the  men  and  women  who  have 
proven  themselves  heroic  along  other  lines  of 
endeavor. 

Something  must  be  done. 

Here  is  the  gist  of  all  the  blighting  curse  en- 
gendered: Aside  from  this  strange  union  and 
sexual  satisfaction  the  colored  woman  will  love 
the  white  man,  and  the  white  man  the  colored 
woman;  but  this  fact  must  be  carefully  hid  by 
her  in  most  cases  as  well  as  by  him.  Both  thus 
necessarily  harbor  a  sneaking  sense  of  watchful- 
ness and  cunning,  and  the  children  born  under 
this  state  of  mind  generally  inherit  the  same 
sneaking,  sexual  craving;  thus  increasing  the 
present  growing  class  of  born  reprobates.  And 
it  does  not  matter  whether  her  lover  be  the 
father  of  her  children,  or  whether  he  be  white 
or  black,  the  same  results  will  follow.  A  white 
man  who  keeps  company  with  a  colored  woman 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  307 

while  raising  a  family  with  his  white  wife,  is 
liable  to  curse  his  white  children  likewise. 

Loose  marriage  relations  in  both  races  are 
more  liable  to  result  in  poor  offspring  than  oth- 
erwise. 

Under  these  conditions  the  hand  that  rocks 
the  cradle  damns  a  nation! 

The  blight  which  rests  upon  the  issue  of  il- 
licit sexual  intercourse  between  the  races  can  only 
be  removed  by  a  legal  intermarriage,  or  a  ren- 
dering respectable  by  public  consent.  And  ren- 
dering this  respectable  need  not  embrace  social 
equality.  The  object  to  be  attained  is  to  liber- 
ate the  colored  woman  from  sexual  slavery,  as 
well  as  the  white  woman  who  finds  her  affinity 
in  the  colored  race,  and  thereby  produce  a  better 
offspring  and  law  abiding  citizen  for  this  great 
republic. 

No  radical  racial  improvement  can  take  place 
as  long  as  a  sneaking  sexual  secrecy  is  main- 
tained between  the  races  in  this  country.  The 
white  South  as  well  as  the  black  is  already 
steeped  in  moral  depravity  because  of  it.  If 
there  were  no  marriage  prohibitions  between  the 
races  a  more  natural  condition  would  soon  be 
brought  about.  An  open,  legal  union,  with  a 
natural,  modulated  separation  of  the  races,  'with- 
out any  state  interference,  is  the  only  policy  our 
nation  can  pursue  if  growth  instead  of  decay  is 
to  be  our  lot. 


308  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

FREDERICK   DOUGLASS   SAW   IT.— 

Frederick  Douglass,  that  man  of  clear  fore- 
sight and  iron  will,  saw  the  day  when  a  firm 
stand  must  be  taken  to  prevent  utter  sexual  cor- 
ruption between  the  races.  He  saw  that  the  two 
races  could  not  forever  live  together  and  not 
amalgamate  lawfully.  He  saw  that  the  custom 
of  illicit  mixing  of  the  former  slave  master  with 
his  female  chattels  could  not  forever  be  endured 
i>y  a  free,  refined,  educated  colored  womanhood. 
He  took  the  step,  he  set  the  example,  though  he 
was  mocked,  derided  and  met  with  a  storm  of 
protests  by  influential  members  of  his  race.  He 
stepped  out  like  a  man  and  married  the  white 
woman  who  was  willing  to  love  him  and  marry 
him.  Who  has  ever  thought  him  a  coward? 
The  coward  belongs  to  the  other  class — the 
sneaking  \vhite  man  who  slips  into  the  home  of 
his  colored  woman  after  dark  and  out  before 
daylight,  and  the  colored  woman  who  loves  him 
but  does  not  insist  on  their  legal  union.  If  she 
would  follow  the  example  of  the  little  Indian 
girl  referred  to  above,  he  would  travel  a  thou- 
sand miles  with  her  in  order  to  make  her  his 
legal  wife  in  a  free  state,  or  he  would  let  her 
alone. 

As  long  as  the  colored  woman  is  considered 
so  cheap,  so  common,  the  men  of  her  own  race 
as  well  as  white  men  will  fool  with  her  and  seek 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  309 

her  degradation,  and  consider  her  common 
property,  in  other  words,  a  sexual  slave. 

We  care  little  for  the  adverse  opinions  of 
black  men  or  white  men,  or  of  mixed  men — jus- 
tice, that's  what  we  want,  what  we  demand.  We 
stand  for  the  moral  uplift  of  the  colored  woman- 
hood, the  white  manhood — their  freedom  from 
the  cursed  custom  of  illicit  mixing  of  slavery 
times!  The  laws  must  be  so  changed  that  there 
is  no  occasion  for  illicit  mixing.  And  when  a 
colored  man  is  found  in  the  society  of  a  white 
woman,  with  her  consent,  there  shall  be  no  lynch- 
ing, neither  prosecution,  but  marriage. 

You  may  call  this  social  equality,  you  may 
call  it  an  outrage  to  the  white  race — especially 
the  white  woman;  but  it  is  neither!  It  is  noth- 
ing but  justice — justice  in  an  equal  sexual  op- 
portunity and  protection  between  the  races,  as 
they  live  and  move  and  have  their  being  to- 
gether in  this  great  Southland  and  every  other 
part  of  our  union. 

INTERMARRIAGE  PROHIBITIONS 
ARE  DEGRADING.— We  have  seen  in  the 
foregoing  that  intermarriage  prohibitions  are 
absolutely  degrading  between  the  races  in  this 
country.  First,  that  such  prohibitions  cannot 
be  enforced;  secondly,  that  such  prohibitions 
are  contrary  to  human  nature,  reason  and  jus- 
tice. It  is  contended  by  a  certain  class  of  south- 


310  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

erners  that  if  no  marriage  prohibitions  did  exist 
in  the  South,  the  Negro  would  force  his  way 
into  the  parlor  of  the  white  man  and  insist  in 
keeping  company  with  his  daughter. 

What  a  silly  argument.  In  the  crowded 
Negro  centers  of  many  northern  cities  where 
marriage  is  not  forbidden,  the  same  kind  of 
Negro  lives  that  exists  in  the  South,  and  the 
white  man  has  never  found  cause  for  such  a  com- 
plaint. No,  it  is  not  that.  It  is  the  political 
boss,  the  law-maker,  the  feudal  lord  of  the  South, 
who  lives  in  illicit  relationship  with  Negro 
women,  who  wants  to  keep  her  thus  in  ignorance 
as  his  sexual  slave,  who  is  the  bitterest  opponent 
of  legal  intermarriage.  The  better  class  of  men 
of  means  who  have  colored  wives  would  wel- 
come nothing  more  fervently  than  a  law  that 
would  legalize  their  offspring  and  make  respect- 
able their  pretty  little  wives  and  family.  We 
could  recite  a  number  of  cases  where  these  men 
came  in  conflict  with  this  demagogue,  because 
they  insisted  on  living  as  respectable  and  openly 
as  possible  with  their  colored  wives  and  family. 

THE  COLORED  MAN  WOULD  RE- 
CEIVE SOCIAL  JUSTICE.— With  the  over- 
throw of  this  political  gang  that  rules  the  South 
the  colored  man  would  receive  social  justice, 
When  a  bad  white  woman  accuses  him  wrong- 
fully, he  would  then  not  be  thrust  into  prison 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  311 

without  a  fair  trial.  A  number  of  such  cases 
have  come  under  our  observation.  The  colored 
man  is  by  no  means  always  guilty  when  accused 
by  a  white  woman.  We  will  give  a  few  ex- 
amples to  show  the  reader  why.  A  southern 
white  woman  had  kept  company  with  a  Negro 
man  for  more  than  two  years.  She  one  day  de- 
manded money  of  him  which  he  could  not  sup- 
ply just  at  the  time.  She  got  him  in  a  compromis- 
ing position  with  herself,  when  she  suddenly 
gave  a  fierce  alarm.  He  was  caught,  narrowly 
escaped  lynching,  was  prosecuted  and  sent  to 
the  coal  mines  for  life.  At  this  writing  there  is 
a  colored  man  in  an  Alabama  prison  who  came 
to  grief  in  nearly  the  same  manner.  Seemingly 
a  northern  woman,  who  had  not  been  long  in  the 
city,  became  acquainted  with  this  man  and  en- 
couraged him.  At  various  times  he  sent  her 
flowers  and  fruit,  etc.,  until  one  day  a  note  from 
him  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  woman  with  whom 
she  was  boarding.  This  woman  gave  the  note  to 
her  husband  who  made  inquiry  of  the  woman 
boarder.  When  she  saw  that  she  was  about  to 
be  exposed  she  denied  any  friendship  with  the 
Negro,  and  said  it  was  very  impudent  of  him, 
etc.  The  man,  in  true  southern  chivalry,  ad- 
vised her  to  notify  the  police.  This  she  did,  and 
now  her  dark  lover  is  in  prison.  He  produced 
evidence  of  their  intimacy  in  the  shape  of  several 


312 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


PRETTY   COLORED   CAUCASIAN  WOMEN   FROM   THE  GULF. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  313 

check  stubs,  which  were  made  out  to  her,  and 
the  checks  of  which  she  had  cashed  in  a  city 
bank.  But  all  evidence  he  might  produce  will 
undoubtedly  avail  him  nothing.  But  there  are 
places  in  the  far  South  where  sentiment  is 
stronger  than  the  law.  We  have  knowledge  of 
a  case  in  Tampa,  Florida.  A  white  woman  got 
her  Negro  man  into  trouble  of  a  like  nature,  but 
the  colored  man  proved  by  white  and  colored 
witnesses  that  she  had  lived  with  him  ten  years. 
She  was  ordered  out  of  town  and  he  was  released 
from  prison.  In  some  parts  of  Florida  intermar- 
riage is  very  common,  and  the  existing  law  op- 
posing it  is  a  dead  letter.  Cubans  and  others  ar- 
rive in  that  state  with  black  wives,  and  many 
others  also  have  colored  wives  and  families. 

In  relating  the  above  cases  we  do  not  attempt 
to  prove  that  all  white  women  will  deny  their 
relationship  with  colored  men,  for  many  good 
and  brave  white  women  do  not.  A  case  came 
to  our  notice  not  long  since,  where  a  white 
woman  arrived  in  a  southern  town  with  her  col- 
ored husband.  As  soon  as  they  were  discovered 
he  was  thrown  into  prison  by  the  brave  (?)  offi- 
cer of  the  law,  who  never  recognizes  a  colored 
woman  while  the  sun  shines.  She  fought  for  her 
swarthy  husband  like  a  little  heroine  she  was. 
She  demanded  of  the  judge  to  "let  her  husband 
go ;"  that  he  was  hers,  and  that  they  had  no  right 


314  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

to  imprison  or  detain  him.  She  produced  their 
marriage  certificate  and  the  fact  that  they  were 
legally  married  in  a  free  state  and  were  not 
slaves.  Finally  the  court  ruled  that  the  woman 
was  of  a  very  low,  degraded  character f  and  that 
the  "nigger"  should  be  released  and  both  be 
compelled  to  leave  within  twenty-four  hours. 

A  very  amusing  case  is  related  of  a  bishop  of 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church. 
He  had  a  very  fair  wife,  in  fact  so  fair  that  an 
expert  could  not  tell  that  she  was  colored.  While 
holding  conference  in  a  Mississippi  town  he  was 
arrested  for  being  with  a  white  woman.  It  was 
necessary  for  them  to  produce  proof  from  their 
native  town  that  she  was  there  known  as  colored. 

Now,  it  is  evident  that  all  this  silly  persecu- 
tion of  the  colored  man  with  regard  to  the  white 
woman  would  cease,  just  as  soon  as  the  dominat- 
ing set  of  political  vagabonds  in  the  South  is  cast 
out  of  office,  and,  if  possible  out  of  the  country. 
The  two  races  cannot  live  in  peace  and  happi- 
ness together  as  long  as  this  set  of  race  hating, 
bulldozing  anarchists  rule  the  South.  We  have 
reasons  to  believe  that  their  days  are  numbered. 
There  is  a  hand  writing  on  the  wall. 

OUR  MARRIAGE  LAWS  ARE  OUT- 
RAGEOUS.— There  is  no  country  on  earth  to- 
day, that  makes  any  pretense  at  civilization  or 
the  social  regulation  of  its  citizens,  that  has  as 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  315 

varied  and  conflicting  a  set  of  marriage  laws  as 
have  these  United  States.  A  foreigner  coming 
to  our  country  and  looking  over  our  marriage 
statutes  in  the  various  states  for  the  first  time, 
must,  indeed,  feel  that  he  is  beholding  a  "crazy- 
quilt"  in  law-making  that  must  ever  disgrace  the 
framers  of  them  in  the  eyes  of  our  future,  great, 
mixed  population.  In  some  states,  like  Illi- 
nois, Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Kansas,  etc., 
there  are  no  race  prohibitions.  In  others,  like 
Alabama,  Georgia,  the  Carolinas,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  Texas,  and  all  the  other  southern  and 
some  western  states,  marriage  between  Negroes 
and  whites  is  prohibited.  Some  of  them  have 
prohibitions  between  Indians  and  whites  and 
Mongolians  and  whites.  California  is  one  of 
the  states  prohibiting  marriage  between  whites 
and  Negroes,  Mongolians  and  mulattoes.  Other 
states,  like  Arizona,  have  prohibitions  between 
Indians  and  whites  or  Chinese  and  whites.  Yet 
another  state,  like  Oklahoma,  encourages  mar- 
riage between  Indians  and  whites,  while  with 
even  the  refined  Negro  it  is  considered  a  disgrace 
and  unlawful.  In  some  states  where  marriage 
with  the  African  descent  or  Indian  is  prohibited, 
there  are  few  Negroes  or  Indians.  For  instance, 
Maine  has  an  Indian  population  of  less  than  700, 
but  prohibits  marriage  with  them,  while  Okla- 
homa has  the  largest  in  the  United  States  (75,- 
ooo)  and  endeavors  to  amalgamate  them. 


316 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


PRETTY  FRENCH  CREOLE  LADIES. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  317 

Again,  Nevada  has  less  than  200  Afro-Amer- 
icans, but  has  an  intermarriage  prohibition, 
while  Pennsylvania,  with  more  than  175,000, 
New  York,  with  more  than  100,000,  Ohio,  with 
more  than  100,000,  Illinois  with  more  than  100,- 
ooo,  have  no  marriage  prohibitions. 

The  very  fact  that  the  law  in  some  states  says 
that  there  shall  be  no  marriage  between  the  Cau- 
casian and  the  mulatto,  is  a  confession  that  the 
mulatto  actually  exists.  Furthermore,  the  law,  by 
making  this  restriction  on  the  one  hand,  silently 
grants  the  existence  of  illicit  mixing  on  the 
other;  or,  perhaps  more  correctly,  is  too  im- 
potent to  cope  with  it. 

The  same  class  of  Indians  and  Negroes  may  be 
found  in  all  the  states  and  also  the  same  class  of 
whites,  and  yet  there  exists  this  difference  in  our 
marriage  laws  of  the  various  states. 

This  goes  to  show  that  no  state  can  justly  and 
successfully  legislate  on  matters  pertaining  to  the 
affairs  of  the  heart  of  its  sane  and  law-abiding 
citizens — whom  they  shall  or  shall  not  marry 
—and  that  there  should  be  no  statute  in  any  state 
prohibiting  intermarriage,  and  thereby  encour- 
aging crime. 

Our  marriage  laws  are  an  outrage  to  our  civ- 
ilization. 

WHERE  INDIANS  AND  WHITES 
MARRY. — We  take  the  following  interesting 


318  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

reading  from  a  southern  newspaper,  "The  Me- 
ridian Dispatch,"  a  strong  Mississippi  daily, 
which  proves  the  fact  that  the  southern  people 
are  interested  in  a  question  which,  even  this  early 
day,  confronts  them  and  demands  attention 
throughout  the  South.  This  article  says: 

"While  the  new  State  of  Oklahoma  is  more 
southern  than  western,  and  while  the  Negro  is 
accorded  no  social  equality,  the  Indian,  if  he  be 
educated  and  possessed  of  property,  is  on  an 
equal  footing  with  the  whites.  Oklahoma 
boasts  of  thousands  of  prosperous  American  cit- 
izens who  trace  their  ancestry  on  one  or  both 
sides  to  the  aborigines. 

"For  example,  an  Indian  is  attorney  for  one  of 
the  biggest  western  railroads,  is  a  graduate  of 
an  eastern  university  and  a  man  of  influence  in 
the  state.  His  wife,  a  charming  white  woman, 
is  as  proud  of  her  husband's  red  ancestry  as  is 
many  a  New  Yorker  of  descent  from  the  De 
Lanceys  or  Livingstones. 

"No  social  stigma  attaches  to  the  intermar- 
riage of  whites  and  Indians,  at  least  when  the 
latter  are  of  the  better  class.  An  illustration  of 
this  state  of  affairs  was  the  experience  of  a  New 
York  woman  traveling  last  winter  in  Oklahoma. 

"On  my  way  from  Muskogee  to  a  near-by 
city,"  she  said,  "I  met  in  the  Pullman  car  an 
intelligent,  well-appearing  young  white  woman 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  319 

who  chatted  with  me  about  the  people.  I  dis- 
played my  tenderfoot  ignorance  by  asking  her  if 
many  Indians  in  the  state  were  civilized. 

"My  neighbor  smiled  at  me  indulgently,  and 
answered:  "Oh,  yes,  many  of  our  finest  men 
are  Indians,  or  part  Indian.  My  husband,"  she 
added,  holding  her  head  a  little  higher,  "is  a 
member  of  the  Chickasaw  nation." 

"My  husband's  father,"  she  went  'on  to  ex- 
plain, "was  a  white  man,  a  physician.  He  sent 
his  son  to  Yale,  and  when  he  died  he  left  a  good 

property  in  M .     My  own  people  were  early" 

comers  to  Oklahoma,' and  I  have  lived  here  all 
my  life.  My  husband's  mother,  a  full-blooded 
Chickasaw,  is  still  living,  and  owns  one  of  the 

handsomest  homes  in  M .     She  has  a  great 

many  Indian  relics,  of  which  we  are  very 
proud.  I  suppose  you  know  that  the  two  prin- 
cipal tribes  here  are  the  Choctaw  and  the  Chick- 
asaw. Every  member  of  these  tribes  has  land 
apportioned  to  him  by  the  government.  My  lit- 
tle daughter,  five  years  old,  as  a  member  of  the 
Chickasaw  nation,  has  land  which  brings  her  an 
income  of  $750  a  year.  My  husband  and  I  are 
putting  this  money  in  the  bank  to  her  account, 
and  when  she  is  old  enough  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  send  her  to  an  eastern  college.  My  husband 
also  has  holdings  in  the  Chickasaw  lands,  and  the 
law  gives  me,  as  an  'intermarried  citizen,'  an 
equal  amount." 


320  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington  says  of  his  visit  to 
Oklahoma:  "It  was  in  the  fall  that  I  spent  a 
week  in  Oklahoma.  During  the  course  of  my 
visit  I  had  an  opportunity  for  the  first  time  to 
see  the  three  races — the  Negro,  the  Indian,  and 
the  white  man — living  side  by  side,  each  in  suf- 
ficient numbers  to  make  their  influence  felt  in 
the  community  of  which  they  were  a  part,  and  in 
the  territory  as  a  whole.  It  was  not  my  first 
acquaintance  with  the  Indian.  During  the  last 
years  of  my  stay  at  Hampton  Institute  I  had 
charge  of  the  Indian  students  there,  and  had 
come  to  have  a  high  respect  both  for  their  char- 
acter and  intelligence,  so  that  I  was  particularly 
interested  to  see  them  in  their  own  country, 
where  they  still  preserved  to  some  extent  their 
native  institutions.  I  was  all  the  more  impressed, 
on  that  acount,  with  the  fact  that  in  the  cities 
that  I  visited  I  rarely  caught  sight  of  a  genuine 
native  Indian.  When  I  inquired,  as  I  frequently 
did,  for  the  'natives,'  it  almost  invariably  hap- 
pened that  I  was  introduced,  not  to  an  Indian, 
but  to  a  Negro.  During  my  visit  to  the  city  of 
Muskogee  I  stopped  at  the  home  of  one  of  the 
prominent  'natives'  of  the  Creek  Nation,  the 
Hon.  C.  W.  Sango,  superintendent  of  the  Tulla- 
hasse  Mission.  But  he  was  a  Negro.  :•  The 
Negroes  who  are  known  in  that  locality  as  "na- 
tives" are  the  descendents  of  slaves  that  the  In- 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  321 

dians  brought  with  them  from  Alabama  and 
Mississippi,  when  they  migrated  to  this  territory 
about  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  I  was  in- 
troduced later  to  one  or  two  other  'natives'  who 
were  not  Negroes,  but  neither  were  they,  as  far 
as  my  observation  went,  Indians.  They  were, 
on  the  contrary,  white  men.  'But  where,'  I 
asked  at  length,  'are  the  Indians?'' 

"Oh!  the  Indians,"  was  the  reply,  "they  have 
gone" — with  a  wave  of  the  hand  in  the  direction 
of  the  horizon — "they  have  gone  back!" 
*  *  "One  cannot  escape  the  impression,  in 
traveling  through  Indian  Territory,  that  the  In- 
dians, who  own  practically  all  the  lands,  and 
until  recently  had  the  local  government  largely 
in  their  hands,  are  to  a  very  large  extent  regarded 
by  the  white  settlers,  who  are  rapidly  filling  up 
the  country,  as  almost  a  negligible  quantity.  To 
such  an  extent  is  this  true  that  the  constitution  of 
Oklahoma,  as  I  understand  it,  takes  no  account 
of  the  Indians  in  drawing  its  distinctions  among 
the  races.  For  the  constitution  there  exists  only 
the  Negro  and  the  white  man.  The  reason 
seems  to  be  that  the  Indians  have  either  receded 
— "gone  back,"  as  the  saying  in  that  region  is — 
on  the  advance  of  the  white  race,  or  they  have 
intermarried  with  and  become  absorbed  with  it. 
Indeed,  so  rapidly  has  this  intermarriage  of  the 
two  races  gone  on,  and  so  great  has  been  the  de- 


21 


322 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


PRETTY   BROWN  AND  YELLOW  LADIES. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  323 

mand  for  Indian  wives,  that  in  some  of  the  na- 
tions, I  was  informed,  the  price  of  marriage  li- 
cense has  gone  as  high  as  $1,000." 

It  will  be  readily  seen  by  our  readers  that  this 
rapid  amalgamating  process  between  the  white 
and  red  races  is  not  because  of  special  worth  or 
superior  physical  beauty,  but  because  of  a 
pecuniary  consideration  on  the  white  man's  part 
in  most  cases.  Many  white  men  became  "squaw 
men"  in  Indian  Territory  years  ago,  not  because 
she  was  pretty,  civilized,  intelligent,  or  refined, 
but  because  she  possessed  "something  substantial 
worth  looking  after."  While  the  full-blooded 
Indian  woman  is  rarely  attractive,  she  has  al- 
ways made  a  very  faithful  and  dutiful  wife  and 
mother  to  the  white  man,  and  her  children  by 
him  have  nearly  always  possessed  superior  phys- 
ical beauty.  Some  of  the  best  looking  women  in 
Oklahoma  have  Indian  blood  in  their  veins,  and 
many  men  now  prefer  these  to  a  pure-blooded 
white  woman,  and  vice  versa.  But,  while  we 
say  this,  let  the  reader  remember  that  the  woman 
of  Negro  descent,  in  Oklahoma  and  elsewhere  in 
the  South,  in  whose  veins  often  flows  the  blood 
of  both  the  white  and  red  races,  if  she  be  edu- 
cated, has  the  most  charming  and  magnetic  per- 
sonality of  any  woman  on  the  American  conti- 
nent. If  she  were  placed  in  the  same  position 
as  the  Indian  woman  of  Oklahoma  occupies,. 


324 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


TWO  COLORED  BEAUTIES  OF  THE   FAR  SOUTH. 
"When  the  wind  blows  cold." 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  325 

white  men  in  every  station  in  life  would  take  her 
as  a  legal  wife.  And  the  same  is  true  of  the  col- 
ored men.  We  have  never  heard  a  white  woman 
say  that  an  Indian  man  possessed  any  degree  of 
physical  beauty,  or,  in  other  words,  a  pleasing 
physiognomy,  while  many  cultured  Negro  men 
are  pronounced  handsome  by  the  best  feminine 
judges  in  such  matters. 

If  the  Negro  did  not  occupy  such  an  unfavor- 
able political  position  in  this  country,  and  the 
stigma  of  his  former  bondage  were  removed, 
there  would  be  little  objections  by  the  law-mak- 
ers to  legal  intermarriage  with  the  refined  and 
educated  class  of  African  blood.  And,  as  we 
have  already  said,  there  is  a  better  class  of  white 
men  in  the  South  who  would  fervently  welcome 
a  legal  union  between  the  races  in  these  states,  in 
spite  of  all  prejudice,  and  forever  remove  the 
degrading  conditions  as  they  now  are.  From 
these  men  we  shall  undoubtedly  hear  in  some 
future  day. 

A  POLITICAL  CHANGE  MEANS  SO- 
CIAL ELEVATION  AND  SALVATION. 
—Right  here  we  want  our  readers  to  bear  in 
mind  that  a  political  change  in  the  South  is  a 
necessity,  before  social  elevation  and  salvation 
is  possible  in  the  white  as  well  as  the  black  race. 
As  long  as  a  set  of  self-centered  men  can  obtain 
and  maintain  political  life  in  the  South,  by  pit- 


326  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

ting  one  race  against  the  other,  so  long  will  the 
masses  of  both  races  "go  begging."  The  best 
interest  of  both  races  in  the  South  is  identical. 
As  soon  as  the  better  class  of  both  races  discover 
this  fact  they  will  unite  and  obtain  control  of  the 
South.  As  soon  as  this  control  has  been  obtained, 
the  marriage  laws  now  on  the  statute  books  of 
the  southern  states  will  be  so  changed  that  the 
social  relations  between  the  races  will  become 
elevating,  tending  to  a  pure  home  life  and  a  legal 
union  between  the  sexes  of  the  races.  And  here 
we  touch  upon  one  more  thought,  and  we  are 
done: 

LOVE  BETWEEN  THE  SEXES  OF  THE 
RACES  IS  CONDUCIVE  TO  HOME- 
LIFE. — The  love  which  exists  between  the  men 
and  women  of  the  two  races  in  thousands  of  in- 
stances is  conducive  to  pure  home-life,  good 
morals  and  splendid  citizenship,  if  it  were  legal- 
ized and  made  respectable,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Indians  and  whites  in  Oklahoma. 

Love,  though  elevating  and  purifying  in  its 
attributes  under  natural  conditions,  may  be 
dragged  in  the  mire  and  be  made  disreputable 
between  the  sanest  and  most  respectable  citi- 
zens of  two  races,  when  the  laws  oppose  and 
customs  forbid.  A  white  woman,  though 
pure  and  good,  is  pronounced  low  and  de- 
graded when  she  unites  in  love  and  marriage 


OR   THE   FADING  LEONARD'S   SPOTS  327 

with  a  colored  man.  A  white  man,  though 
he  may  keep  company  with  a  colored  woman  as 
a  matter  of  course,  is  ostracized  by  society  if  he 
claims  her  as  his  legal  wife.  She  even  is  pro- 
nounced low  and  degraded  by  her  own  race, 
though  she  has  never  known  a  man  but  him. 
The  Negro's  mind  is  warped  in  this  by  the  south- 
ern white  man  as  in  many  other  respects.  His 
narrowness  and  stupid  race  pride  cause  him  to 
rather  degrade  the  womanhood  of  his  race  than 
to  champion  her  rights  as  a  woman  among 
women.  The  day  will  come  when  the  colored 
women,  who  now  step  out  boldly  and  proclaim 
their  love  for  and  fidelity  to  white  men,  will  be 
revered  by  the  race  as  champions  of  liberty  and 
mothers  of  justice. 

Prof.  O.  S.  Fowler,  our  revered  teacher,  has 
long  since  proclaimed  this  fundamental  law  of 
love  as  overruling  all  human  law: 

"When  God's  'higher  law'  conflicts  with  man's 
lower,  the  higher  should  annul  and  overrule  the 
lower.  His  laws  alone  are  right,  and  create 
right.  Human  law  cannot  make  that  right 
which  His  natural  law  interdicts;  nor  that 
wrong  which  Divine  law  sanctions;  for  all  hu- 
man laws  derive  their  obligability  from  their 
being  rescripts  of  the  Divine.  Natural  law  en- 
acts that  physical  and  mental  love  go  hand  in 
hand  together.  The  injuries  and  agonies  of  love 


328  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

interrupted  or  disappointed  are  caused  solely  by 
violating  this  law;  and  can  arrest  only  thus: — 
STOP  LOVING,  OR  ELSE  COHABIT 
AND  PROCREATE  TOGETHER." 

The  peculiar  attractiveness  between  the  races, 
who  will  forever  live  side  by  side,  will  become 
more  and  more  aggravated  as  the  Afro-Ameri- 
can moves  upward  into  the  higher  realms  of 
mental  and  moral  attainments ;  and  the  two  races 
will  not— "STOP  LOVING,"  nor  yet  stop  pro- 
creating together.  Intellectual  and  moral  at- 
tainments will  not  stop  this  loving  and  procreat- 
ing, but  is  bound  to  legalize  it.  Men  and  women 
of  enlightenment  and  civilization,  the  world 
over,  hate  slavery  in  this  age  of  tremendous  evo- 
lutions, especially  that  kind  of  slavery  which 
prescribes  to  them — strong,  sane,  intelligent  citi- 
zens— what  kind  of  sexual  life-mates  they  shall 
or  shall  not  select  for  their  individual  happiness 
and  wellbeing. 

The  race  question  is  not  and  never  will  be 
solved,  until  legal  intermarriage  can  take  place 
in  all  the  states  without  a  shadow  of  prejudice 
or  social  ostracism.  This  fact  is  well  illustrated 
in  the  following  newspaper  clipping  from  the 
New  Orleans  Picayune.  Such  places  as  here 
referred  to  have  never  experienced  mob  violence 
or  lynchings,  but  nearly  always  possessed  the 
sweetest  harmony  and  good  fellowship  between 
the  races. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  329 


SOCIAL  EQUALITY,  EVOLUTION  AND  PROGRESS. 


330  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

"WHY  THE  LAW  IS  POWERLESS.— 

Where  White  Swear  They  are  Black,  Convic- 
tion is  Impossible.  'She's  my  wife.  We  have 
lived  together  thirty-eight  years.  The  law  can- 
not estrange  us.'  Thus  spoke  Joseph  Lawrence, 
a  white  farmer,  in  the  second  criminal  court  at 
New  Orleans,  La.,  recently,  while  he  was  wait- 
ing trial  on  the  charge  of  marrying  a  colored 
woman.  Through  the  arrest  of  Lawrence  and 
his  colored  wife  the  police  discovered  a  hard 
situation.  All  around  Lee  Station  the  white 
farmers  and  fishermen  and  other  classes  have 
intermarried  with  colored  people  and  reared 
large  families,  regardless  of  the  law  against  such. 
A  number  of  arrests  have  been  made,  but  it  has 
been  impossible  to  convict  one  for  the  reason 
that  the  white  parties  all  went  on  the  stand  and 
swore  they  were  colored.  Just  what  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  can  do  remains  to  be  seen." 

It  remains  to  be  seen,  as  the  Picayune  says, 
what  the  law  can  do  with  men  and  women  of  the 
two  races  who  will  "not  stop  loving"  or  procre- 
ating together.  This  community,  as  many  others 
in  the  South,  shows  that  love  between  the  sexes 
of  the  races  is  conducive  to  harmony,  good 
home-life,  good  citizenship,  etc.,  when  it  is 
allowed  to  culminate  in  legal  intermarriage,  but 
that  it,  on  the  other  hand,  degrades  and  brutal- 
izes when  the  offending  parties  are  continually 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  331 

dragged  into  court  and  subjected  to  the  sense- 
less prejudice  of  the  dominating  class,  or  when 
this  dominating  class  is  allowed,  by  the  old  cus- 
tom of  the  South,  to  take  the  advantage  of  the 
defenseless  colored  women. 

The  Martin  case,  which  has  recently  gone  the 
rounds  in  the  newspapers,  is  but  a  fair  example. 
The  Martins  are  reported  to  be  rich  planters 
who  live  near  Crenshaw,  Mississippi.  The 
Oliver  girl,  who  is  a  beautiful  octoroon,  had 
been  living  at  the  Martin  household  for  six 
months.  She  went  there  as  a  servant,  but  young 
Martin  took  her  out  of  the  chambers,  gowned 
her  in  costly  clothes  and  openly  rode  about  the 
neighborhood  with  her.  Angry  and  heart- 
broken at  the  ruin  of  her  beautiful  daughter, 
Mrs.  Oliver,  in  whose  veins  ran  the  blood  of  a 
chivalrous  white  race,  went  to  the  Martin  house 
in  company  with  another  daughter  and  de- 
manded that  her  daughter  return  with  her. 
Young  Martin  heard  the  demands  of  the  women 
from  his  room,  he  walked  out  to  the  gallery  with 
a  gun  and  fired  four  shots  into  the  women,  who 
fell  dead.  There  is  nothing  extraordinary  about 
this  case.  Such  cases  are  an  everyday  occur- 
rence in  this  country.  Had  it  not  been  for  the 
killing  of  the  two  women  connected  with  the 
case,  the  Oliver  girl  would  have  remained  the 
mistress  of  Arthur  Martin  as  long  as  she  woull 


332  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

have  pleased  him,  but  no  legal  union  would  have 
been  possible,  even  had  they  both  desired  it. 

We  have  related  the  above  cases,  because  we 
wish  our  readers  to  compare  the  two  systems — 
the  Lee  Station  system  and  the  Martin  system— 
and  then  determine  which  is  the  most  civilized, 
ethical  and  Christian, 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  333 

CHAPTER  XV 

WOMAN'S  PLACE  AND  POWER 

A  PERFECT  POSTERITY  SHOULD  BE 
THE  AIM. — In  this  age  of  reason  and  en- 
lightenment man  cannot  afford  to  drift  on  in 
primitive  customs  and  laws.  It  is  now  general- 
ly conceded  that  man  is  here  for  a  definite  pur- 
pose, viz.,  the  betterment  of  his  kind,  the  im- 
provement of  his  material  environments,  and 
lastly,  but  not  least,  the  possible  acquisition  of 
immortality.  These  are  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples upon  which  a  true  Christian  civilization 
rests.  First,  and  above  all,  he  must,  this  day,  in 
the  light  of  reason,  consider  his  kind.  An  edu- 
cator has  recently  said  that  he  would  rather  be 
a  hog  than  a  man  at  the  present  time,  in  this 
country,  as  the  government  paid  more  attention 
to  the  hog,  its  diseases,  cultivation,  care,  etc., 
than  to  man.  -  A  well-bred  pig  is  of  more  con- 
sequence to  the  government  than  a  well-bred 
babe.  A  thoroughbred,  or  rather,  perfect  babe 
is  not  even  dreamed  of,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  self-improvement  or  the  betterment  of  the 
human  race,  is  the  highest  duty  of  man  and  the 
governments  of  men.  The  question  under  dis- 
cussion calls  for  at  least  a  little  space  here,  and 
some  thought  on  the  subject  of  proper  marriage. 


334        -.          HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

There  is  really  very  little  attention  paid  to  the 
proper  mating  of  the  sexes  by  the  young  men 
and  women  who  contemplate  marriage,  with  a 
view  of  becoming  the  parents  of  the  best  bred 
children  obtainable.  Although  the  highest  duty 
of  man,  this  is  sadly  ignored  by  nearly  all. 
Young  men  and  women  come  together  in  a  hap- 
hazard way,  for  most  any  purpose  save  the  true 
one.  There  is  as  little  scientific  judgment  and 
reason  used  by  most,  in  this  regard,  as  by  the 
beasts  in  the  field  who  mate  and  have  their  young 
as  nature  prompts  them  to  do. 

CHILDREN  A  NECESSARY  EVIL.- 
All  for  better  conveniences,  social,  financial  rea- 
sons, fleeting  passions,  all  kinds  of  make-beliefs, 
nothing  more.  Children? — they  are  only  a  nec- 
essary evil  if  they  come,  and  by  all  means  let 
them  be  only  a  few  and  far  between  if  they  can- 
not be  entirely  avoided.  It  is  considered  ill-bred 
for  refined  white  women  to  be  the  proud  pos- 
sessors of  eight  or  ten  strong,  healthy,  vigorous 
little  animals,  growing  up  into  fine  men  and 
women. 

Statistics  show  that  the  number  of  children  of 
school  age  have  decreased  within  the  last  few 
years  in  our  native  state,  Wisconsin,  confirming 
the  danger  of  race  suicide,  notwithstanding  the 
encouragement  given  by  ex-President  Roosevelt 
to  the  contrary.  That  there  will  be  no  children 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  336 

left  if  the  present  race  suicide  tendencies  con- 
tinue during  the  next  century  throughout  the 
civilized  world,  was  the  prediction  made  by 
Prof.  Walter  P.  Wilcox,  before  a  class  in  sani- 
tary science  and  public  health,  at  Cornell  uni- 
versity. Wilcox  does  not  accept  the  theory  that 
the  advance  in  civilization,  or  the  spread  of  dis- 
ease, is  responsible  for  the  decrease  in  the  birth 
rate.  He  said: 

"The  true  reason  for  the  fall  in  the  birth  rate 
is  that  in  modern  times,  mainly  in  the  last  half 
'century,  births,  and  the  birth  rate  have  come 
under  the  control  of  the  human  will  and  choice 
in  a  sense  and  to  a  degree  never  before  true. 
This  power  to  control  the  increase  has  been  used 
and  is  being  used  today  far  too  exclusively  with 
reference  to  private  economic  advantage,  and 
far  too  little  with  due  consideration  to  social 
welfare  and  progress." 

SINGLE  BLESSEDNESS.— What?  Let 
the  inferior  take  your  place  while  you,  who  are 
so  well  fitted  to  become  mothers,  parade  in  sin- 
gle blessedness? 

You  have  not  been  asked?  Pick  out  the  best 
man  you  can  find  and  ask  him.  Why  not?  Is 
it  a  disgrace  to  obey  God  and  denounce  a  bar- 
barous custom?  Never. 

All  creation  shouts  and  sings,  Nature  claps  its 
hands  in  glee,  angels  proclaim  the  glad  tidings 


336  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

of  great  joy,  for,  behold,  the  highest  created  be- 
ing has  arrived-— a  babe! 

Every  knee  bows  before  maternity,  but  not 
one  before  enforced  sterility  or  single  blessed- 
ness— not  one.  You  may  desire  no  homage, 
many  do. 

WOMEN  WILL  PROPOSE.— Let  us  not 
forget  that  the  social  custom  which  still  pre- 
vails, which  gives  the  "lord  of  creation"  the  sole 
right  to  propose,  has  shipwrecked  many  a  sweet 
sou-l  of  strong  maternal  desires,  well  fitted  to  ful- 
fill their  rightful  mission,  but  helpless  and 
powerless  to  do  so.  Condemn  these?  God  for- 
bid. We  feel  for  them  and  are  their  best  friends. 
As  long  as  men  are  the  sole  proposers  and  women 
the  sole  disposers,  divorce  courts  will  continue 
to  grow  fat. 

The  time  is  at  hand  when  women  will  have  a 
social  right  to  propose,  to  choose  and  ask  the 
men  of  their  choice  to  become  their  life-mates 
and  the  fathers  of  their  children.  This  right 
belongs  to  her  by  the  highest  law.  She  is  the 
mother  of  the  most  perfect  created  being — the 
likeness  of  God.  She  must  obey  the  command 
of  her  Creator  and  bring  forth  children.  She 
cannot,  in  the  light  of  this  divine  law,  rely  upon 
the  man  of  the  present  age,  under  existing  social 
customs,  to  come  to  her  and  ask  her  to  be  his 
mate,  just  when  she  is  in  her  best  physical  and 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  337 

mental  condition.  If  he  come,  he  may  be 
either  too  soon  or  too  late  in  her  life.  There 
was  a  time  when  all  women  were  married  at  an 
early  age  (in  Eastern  countries  this  custom  still 
prevails),  and  when  single  women  were  the  rare 
exceptions.  But  in  such  a  crude  state  of  society 
women  were  often  mere  chattels ;  but  conditions 
have  so  changed  in  America  and  Europe  that  it 
should  no  longer  be  immodest,  but  entirely 
chaste  and  honorable  for  any  nice,  right-think- 
ing up-to-date  young  woman,  white  or  colored, 
to  propose.  Should  he  refuse,  what  then?  She 
can,  with  propriety,  soothe  her  wounded  heart 
and  try  once  more,  and  perchance  she  may  find 
one  who  can  love  her  better  and  be  a  better 
father  to  her  children.  We  are  pleased  to  know 
that  some  prominent  men  and  women  have  al- 
ready taken  in  hand  this  "proposal  reform,"  and 
will  undoubtedly  succeed,  in  due  time,  to  intro- 
duce this  very  desirable  as  well  as  righteous 
custom. 

Mrs.  Harriet  J.  Wood,  a  New  York  lawyer, 
who  is  an  advocate  of  this  reform  says:  "Since 
the  object  to  be  attained  is  the  perfection  of  the 
human  race,  mothers  should  choose  the  fathers 
of  their  children." 

We  would  add  that  we  look  for  no  mentally 
and  physically  perfect  children  until  this  is  done, 
and  done  with  a  full  knowledge  of  scientific 

22 


•338  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

adaptation  and  the  natural,  intuitive  sense  of 
woman. 

"There  is  no  doubt  that  the  selection  of  the 
husband  should  really  rest  with  the  woman," 
says  Dr.  Denslow  Lewis.  "In  the  animal  world 
it  is  invariably  the  female  that  chooses  her  mate. 
Only  in  the  human  race  is  the  right  of  selection 
arbitrarily  given  to  the  male.  Left  to  herself, 
and  with  no  hampering  conventions  to  interfere, 
the  woman  would  be  the  most  discriminating 
chooser.  With  all  sorts  of  men  to  select  from 
she  would  be  in  no  hurry  to  mate  with  the  first 
little  man  that  popped  the  question.  Women 
love  physical  perfection.  With  her  right  to 
select  unquestioned,  a  woman  would  pick  out  the 
man  of  her  own  physical  ideal,  woo  him  with  all 
her  varied  arts  and  fascinations  at  her  disposal, 
and  nine  times  out  of  ten  get  him.  Physically 
the  race  would  be  greatly  benefitted.  There  are 
many  thousands  of  women  in  this  country  who 
have  married  men  just  because  they  have  been 
'•asked  and  who  now  live  the  lives  of  housekeeping 
drudges,  bound  to  the  so-called  home  only  by  the 
stern  dictates  of  duty." 

"The  right  of  man  alone  to  put  the  all-im- 
portant question  of  her  life  to  the  woman  he 
selects,"  says  James  Grant,  "has  come  into 
fashion  only  with  the  advent  of  civilization, 
which  is,  as  we  know,  but  a  relative  term." 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  339 

"The  exclusive  right  of  proposing  marriage 
did  not  always  belong  to  the  lords  of  creation, 
and  since  it  has  become  his  special  privilege, 
men,"  says  Dr.  Westermarck,  the  eminent  Ger- 
man ethnologist,  "have  deteriorated  in  physical 
worth.  Even  now,  among  those  races  which  dis- 
tinguish woman  by  giving  her  the  right  to  select 
the  man  who  is  to  preserve  the  species  which  she 
is  to  mother,  the  finest  specimens  of  physical 
manhood  are  to  be  found.  Among  primitive 
races,  modern  as  well  as  ancient,  the  right  of 
selecting  her  mate  was  always  given  to  the 


woman." 


"Primitive  societies  were  intelligent  enough," 
says  M.  Dromart,  "to  allow  the  law  of  compen- 
sation to  work.  They  realized  that  the  species 
could  only  be  preserved  in  its  original  excel- 
lence by  allowing  the  female  the  right  to  exer- 
cise her  discretion  as  to  who  should  be  allowed 
to  mate  with  her.  The  law  of  all  primitive 
societies  allowed  her  to  choose,  and,  in  the  ma- 
jority of  cases,  severely  penalized  the  occasional 
aggressor  who  forced  his  attentions  upon  an  un- 
willing woman.  What  was  the  result?  A  race 
of  perfect  men  grew  into  being.  All  the  males 
in  the  tribe  strove  by  their  accomplishments  in 
feats  of  strength  and  endurance  to  win  the  at- 
traction of  the  women,  whose  choice  was  there- 
fore fixed  according  to  the  highest  criterion  of 


340 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


My 


GIRLS  OF  THE  GULF— FUTURE  LEADERS  IN  SOCIETY. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  341 

physical  manliness.  Nowadays,  however,  it  is 
often  the  men  who  are  the  least  athletic,  and  in 
most  cases  the  least  worthy  physically,  who  show 
the  greatest  pretensions,  or  who  devote  most 
time  to  attracting  the  attention  of  the  opposite 
sex.  The  consequence  is  that  we  see  undersized 
and  often  almost  decrepit  men  mated  with 
women  of  magnificent  physical  proportions,  all 
the  disparities  reappearing,  particularly  in  re- 
gard to  their  detrimental  aspect  in  the  offspring, 
which  is  more  often  than  not  unequal  and  unen- 
during." 

WOMAN'S  SUFFRAGE  WOULD 
PROVE  OF  BENEFIT  TO  MAN.— Esther 
F.  Boland  says:  "Most  persons  accept  as  true 
the  statement  by  Plato,  'The  woman's  cause  is 
man's;  they  rise  or  sink  together,  dwarfed  or 
God-like,  bond  or  free,'  and  suffragists,  there- 
fore, deem  it  simply  necessary  to  show  that 
woman's  cause  would  be  advanced  by  her  en- 
franchisement since,  if  this  can  be  proved,  it 
follows  that  the  measure  would  benefit  men. 
Unfortunately,  the  cause  of  woman's  rights,  so- 
called,  has  been  largely  concerned  with  woman's 
wrongs,  and  in  the  effort  to  right  these  wrongs 
it  has  been  impossible  to  avoid  a  seeming  antag- 
onism towards  men.  However,  with  the  partial 
attainment  of  much  which  women  strove  for  in 
the  early  days,  such  as  the  equalization  of  the 


342  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

property  rights  of  husband  and  wife,  the  higher 
education  of  women,  the  enlargement  of  the 
sphere  of  their  industrial  activities,  and  so  on, 
the  movement  to  obtain  enfranchisement  has  as- 
sumed a  somewhat  different  aspect.  We  now 
more  often  than  otherwise  hear  the  reform  urged 
as  a  method  of  securing  co-operation  between 
men  and  women  who  are  working  for  the  moral 
elevation  of  society,  and  as  a  means  of  rendering 
the  influence  of  women  in  public  affairs  more 
effective.  It  is  also  claimed  that  women  suf- 
frage would  strengthen  the  bond  between  hus- 
band and  wife  by  adding  one  more  common  in- 
terest, and  that  it  would  increase  woman's  gen- 
eral intelligence  by  enlarging  her  outlook  and 
imposing  responsibility  in  important  affairs  of 
government,  thus  making  her  a  more  intelligent 
companion  to  her  husband.  Furthermore,  it  is 
held  that  the  removal  of  the  stigma  of  political 
disability  would  strengthen  a  mother's  hold 
upon  her  sons,  and  that  she  would  be  better  qual- 
ified to  inculcate  high  standards  of  public  in- 
tegrity. Suffragists  believe  that  a  dispassionate 
consideration  of  this  question  in  its  present  as- 
spects  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  al- 
though designed  primarily  to  confer  upon 
women  the  power  and  dignity  which  attaches  to 
self-government,  yet  woman  suffrage  would  ac- 
complish much  more  than  this,  and  that  it  is  a 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  34* 

beneficent  measure   from  which   right-minded 
men  would  be  great  gainers." 

THEY  WILL  SOLVE  THE  RACE 
QUESTION.— Women  of  both  races  are  ad- 
vancing rapidly  at  the  present  time,  and  are 
fully  alive  to  all  that  is  for  their  betterment,  and 
for  the  highest  and  best  interest  of  the  human 
race. 

Mrs.  Susa  Young  Gates,  the  famous  daughter 
of  Brigham  Young,  says:  "It  is  impossible  that 
any  intelligent  person  should  be  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  women  of  all  classes  and  in  every  civ- 
ilized country  have  become  a  force  in  the  his- 
tory of  nations.  The  most  progressive  are  wide 
awake  to  the  tremendous  possibilities  for  them- 
selves as  a  sex  and  as  individuals.  But  this  is  not 
all.  Women  of  every  class  and  color  are  rubbing 
the  sleep  out  of  their  eyes  and  trying  to  catch  a 
hint  of  the  glorious  color  scheme  which  paints 
the  dawn  of  this  new  era  for  womanhood." 

The  age  of  frivolousness  and  butterflyism 
among  them  is  fast  passing  away.  They  are  now 
taking  hold  of  the  real,  tangible  things  in  their 
lives.  They  are  fast  becoming  more  indepen- 
dent, physically  and  mentally.  This  is  true  of 
the  South  as  well  as  the  North.  No  where  can 
be  found  prettier  and  more  robust  and  healthier 
white  and  colored  women  than  in  the  far  South. 
It  is  apparent  everywhere  here  that  the  pale. 


344  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

babied,  sickly,  incubated  white  lady  of  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  is  fast  passing  away.  While  the 
corset  evil  and  other  relics  of  barbarism  have  not 
yet  disappeared,  we  are  convinced  that  the  laws 
of  health  will  be  better  understood  and  observed 
as  knowledge  increases. 

As  the  old  saying  is,  "time  makes  changes." 
Not  only  in  the  physical  world  is  this  true,  but 
also  in  the  mental,  as  regards  beliefs  and  cus- 
toms. That  which  one  age  finds  absolutely  re- 
pugnant is  all  the  rage  in  the  next. 

We  are  just  giving  hints,  without  examples 
being  necessary,  upon  the  rapid  strides  women 
are  making,  forward  and  upward,  in  every  de- 
partment of  life  and  activities,  and  what  future 
results  may  bring  forth. 

Women  have  done  things  that  men  hesitate  to 
do,  and  they  will  do  them  again.  The  very  fact 
that  they  are  progressing  so  rapidly  leads  us  to 
believe  that  they  will,  North  and  South,  take  a 
very  prominent  part  in  the  settlement  of  the 
Negro  question.  All  over  the  North  and  South 
there  is  a  fair  sprinkling  of  white  women  who 
have  taken  colored  husbands,  many  of  whom  are 
cultured  and  refined.  At  present  these  may  be 
looked  down  upon,  because  of  the  color  line  and 
race  prejudice;  but  remove  this,  and  let  it  be- 
come respectable  instead  of  a  social  crime  to  in- 
termarry with  color,  and  a  decided  change  will 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  345- 

take  place,  so  much  so,  that  not  only  the  inde- 
pendent will  find  their  affinity  or  life-mate 
among  the  colored,  but  the  more  timid  as  well. 
How  horrid  this  sounds,  but  it  is  the  truth. 

What  the  past  fifty  years  could  not  possibly 
accomplish,  the  next  fifty  will  easily  bring  about 
—viz.,  the  removal  of  the  race  prejudice  and  the 
beginning  the  wholesale  intermarriage  with  the 
enlightened,  refined  colored.  And  this  the  inde- 
pendent women  of  both  races  can  and  will  large- 
ly accomplish.  They  will  not  only  be  instru- 
mental in  but  will  be  the  means  of  solving  the 
race  question.  We  have  not  the  least  doubt 
about  this. 

RACIAL  PURITY— WHAT  IS  IT?- 
We  hear  much  in  these  days  from  orators  and 
magazine  writers  about  keeping  the  races  pure 
and  making  intermarriages  of  white  with  the 
colored  races  impossible ;  but  we  know  very  well, 
and  every  fair-minded,  intelligent  man  and 
woman  knows,  that  where  various  races  dwell 
together,  no  man-made  laws,  notwithstanding 
their  severity,  can  make  impossible,  or  of  non- 
effect,  the  immutable  law  of  dissemination,  or  of 
the  mixing  of  the  races.  We  are  obliged  to  re- 
iterate this  fact  in  this  book.  One  of  the  severest 
brain-storms  that  infests  the  minds  of  many  men 
and  women  of  both  races  today,  is  the  persistent 
cry  for  racial  purity. 


346  HOLM'S  RACE  'ASSIMILATION 

What  is  race  purity? 

The  cocoanut-headed  imp  may  cry  for  it,  and 
he  assuredly  has  tangible  reasons.  Reread  our 
chapter  on  race  integrity  and  compare  with  the 
following : 

Racial  purity  is  this:  A  beautiful,  strong, 
symmetrical  body,  a  lofty  intellect,  and  a  pure, 
moral,  humane  and  worshipful  spirit.  They  who 
possess  not  this  harmonious  combination  of  char- 
acter must  all  likewise  perish,  regardless  of  the 
color  of  their  skin.  The  "Harry  Thaw  char- 
acters" of  the  so-called  aristocratic  or  "elect 
class,"  in  both  America  and  Europe,  may  be 
blue  blooded  and  idiotic  enough  to  represent  a 
race,  but  not  one  to  be  eternally  held  up  and 
lauded  as  pure,  or  to  be  proud  of. 

God,  in  His  marvelous  and  mysterious  work- 
shop of  nature,  has  ways  and  means  by  which 
and  through  which  He  tears  down  and  builds  up 
the  various  branches  of  the  human  family,  re- 
gardless of  the  feeble  sputterings  of  the  foolish, 
and  the  harsh  cries  of  the  wicked,  law-befuddled 
egotists. 

We  have  profound  respect  for  all  womankind, 
and  we  could  not  point  the  ringer  of  accusation 
at  any  of  them,  knowing  that  the  wrongs  of  soci- 
ety have  always  fallen  most  heavily  upon  her 
shoulders.  But  to  show  the  reader  here  the  abso- 
lute inability  to  cope  with  the  social  evil  in  the 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  347 

South  by  the  wrong,  unnatural,  damnable  legis- 
lation of  the  present,  we  must,  in  this  connection, 
speak  of  a  matter  that  has  been  brought  to  our' 
attention.  Perhaps  careful  readers  will  think 
that  the  following  discovery  ought  to  have  been 
placed  in  the  chapter  on  "Vice  Versus  Legal  In- 
termarriage," or  perhaps  not  have  found  a  place 
in  this  book  at  all;  but  it  is  our  object  to  weave 
closely  together  all  evidences  leading  to  certain 
conclusions  in  these  chapters,  so  the  reader,  when 
he  has  finished,  will  have  a  clear  conception  of 
all  that  we  have  said,  and  be  ready  to  render  his 
own  judgment. 

A  BAD  KIND  OF  MIXING.— It  was  sev- 
eral years  ago  that  a  white  clergyman  in  Georgia 
made  a  discovery  over  which  people  grew  hyster- 
ical. He  found  that  one  of  the  great  causes,  and 
secret  agencies,  promoting  the  mixing  of  the 
races,  was  illegitimate  children  born  to  white 
women,  and  given  by  them  to  colored  women 
to  raise  as  colored  children,  in  order  that  their 
shame  might  not  be  discovered.  We  have  found 
that  both  white  and  colored  children,  thus  born 
to  white  women,  are  disposed  of  in  this  manner. 

And  here  again  we  come  face  to  face  with  the 
same  paramount  question:  Shall  illegitimate 
parentage  in  the  South  and  elsewhere  be  dis- 
placed by  lawful  intermarriage  and  a  legal  pro- 
tection for  both  races  or  not? 


348  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

Who  can  resist  God  Almighty,  when  His 
voice  comes  from  the  heaving  bosom  of  a 
wronged,  outraged  womanhood?  The  same 
political  system  that  downs  the  Negro  outrages 
and  enslaves  the  southern  white  woman. 

THE  GREATEST  THING  IS  LOVE.- 
We  have  abundance  of  positive  proof  of  cases 
where  very  respectable  white  girls  and  women, 
who  unfortunately  found  affinities  among  col- 
ored men  in  the  South,  were  led  to  commit  hor- 
rible crimes  because  of  the  hellish  customs  of  a 
depraved  white  race,  which  forbids  the  legal 
union  of  two  hearts  whose  every  throb  beats  in 
unison  with  all  their  desires,  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions in  life.  We  have  further  proof  that  there 
exists  a  love  between  some  white  men  and  col- 
ored women,  and  between  some  white  women 
and  colored  men,  who  have  found  each  other,  that 
surpasses  almost  any  love  possible  between  men 
and  women  of  the  same  race.  There  is  a  deep- 
seated  love,  an  irresistible  passion,  which  unites 
them,  that  positively  cannot  be  experienced  by 
any  not  absolutely  dissimilar  in  their  make-up. 
The  greatest  thing  on  earth  is  love.  It  is  the 
agent  that  moves  and  rules  all  mankind,  and 
bids  him  to  humbly  bow  at  the  feet  of  woman- 
kind; and  whether  her  skin  be  white  or  black. 
This  same  woman,  who  tempted  Adam,  has  the 
charm  to  entice,  the  power  to  hold,  the  ability  to 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  349 


THREE  TYPES  OP  COLORED  WOMEN  IN  THE  FAR 
Mental,  Motive  and  Vital  Temperament. 


350  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

lead  the  sons  of  Adam,  if  she  will,  into  the  high- 
way of  progress  for  her  own  liberation,  and  the 
future  good  of  the  human  race,  or  down  into  the 
pit  of  darkness  and  despair. 

THE  HOPE  OF  THE  WORLD.— Profes- 
sor Guy  Carlton  Lee  of  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, voices  the  same  sentiment  we  have  in 
mind  when  he  says:  "The  man  who  searches 
effect  for  cause  must  find  his  goal  most  often  in 
the  influence  of  a  woman.  Not  always  for  good : 
that  could  not  be.  But  it  would  seem  that  all 
that  has  endured  has  been  for  good,  and  that 
the  evil  which  has  been  wrought  by  woman — and 
it  has  not  been  slight — has  been  ephemeral  in 
all  respects.  I  know  of  no  enduring  evil  that 
can  be  traced  to  a  woman  as  its  source;  but  I 
know  of  no  constant  good  which  did  not  find 
either  its  beginning  or  its  fostering  in  a  woman's 
thought  or  work.  Poppaea  leaves  but  a  name; 
Agrippina  leaves  an  example.  It  may  be  true 
of  men  that  the  evil  that  they  do  lives  after  them, 
while  the  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones; 
but  it  is  not  true  of  women.  Of  course,  there  is 
a  sense  in  which  it  is  true — in  the  descent  from 
mother  to  son  of  the  spirit  of  the  unrighteous 
mother;  but  even  this  would  not  seem  to  hold  as 
a  rule,  and  the  effects  are  often  modified  by  the 
influence  of  a  love  for  a  higher  nature.  The  sum 
of  woman's  influence  upon  the  destinies  of  the 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  351 

world  is  good,  the  balance  inclines  steadily 
toward  the  best.  Woman  is  the  hope  of  the 
world."  Maud  Ballington  Booth  has  said :  "One 
thing  is  certain.  Whenever  pain,  sorrow,  sick- 
ness or  misfortune  has  laid  its  hand  on  man, 
he  needs  woman's  touch  to  help  him  bear  it." 

What  has  woman  not  done  for  temperance? 
What  she  did  for  temperance  she  can  do  for  the 
solution  of  the  race  question.  It  is  not  impossible 
that  a  Frances  Willard,  or,  perchance,  a  Carrie 
Nation  may  arise  and  proclaim  the  social  equal- 
ity of  her  cultured,  colored  husband  and  her 
pretty,  intelligent  children  by  him?  How  would 
she  fare?  Just  like  a  Joan  of  Arc,  a  Susan  An- 
thony or  a  Carrie  Nation.  But,  as  in  the  case  of 
all  moral  heroines,  the  human  tide  of  thought, 
of  sentiment,  of  belief,  must  finally  turn  and 
sweep  all  opposing  forces  before  them,  and 
usher  in  another  era,  another  history-making 
epoch.  We  reiterate  the  fact  that  women  have 
done  things  that  men  hesitate  to  do,  and  they  will 
do  them  again. 

Gentle  reader,  what  a  crying  need!  What  a 
tremendous  opportunity!  What  a  field  of  con- 
quest for  the  fearless,  believing,  brave  women 
of  both  races ! 

Two  sure  can  who  both  are  free, 
Though  a  color  line  divides  them, 


352  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

Join  their  hands  and  hearts  in  work, 
That  none  can  do  besides  them. 
Why  not  smash  that  line  for  good? 
It's  all  that  now  divides  them. 
Let  them  boldly  do  what's  right, 
Though  friend  and  foe  derides  them. 

Ice  of  prejudice  must  break, 

Though  worldly  people  despise  them ; 

With  God,  home,  and  native  land, 

Who  is  there  that  defies  them? 

It's  silly  to  spurn  a  love 

Twixt  colored  and  white — God  made  them, 

"What  God  hath  joined  let  no  man  part," 

Let  life's  sweet  days  just  fade  them. 

AN  APPEAL  TO  NOBLE  WOMAN- 
HOOD.— We  appeal  to  the  noble  womanhood 
of  our  white  race.  We  pray  that  her  sympathetic 
heart  may  be  moved  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed, 
despised,  wronged  colored  sister  in  the  South, 
who  is  struggling  up  the  thorny  path  to  the 
higher  standard  of  purity  and  virtue;  but  which 
path  is  frequented  by  so  many  wolves  in  sheep- 
skin to  detain  her,  deceive  her,  entrap  her  and 
then  cast  her  aside  as  worthless,  with  blasted 
hopes  and  a  broken  heart.  We  appeal  to  her  to 
obliterate  the  color  line  in  behalf  of  the  girlhood 
of  the  Negro  race,  the  buds  of  promise,  the 


OR  THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  35$ 

future  woman.  How  can  she  rise  to  the  level  she 
aspires,  and  we  hope  for,  as  long  as  old  laws  and 
customs  pronounce  her  inferior,  debase  her  and 
make  her  the  victim  of,  and  a  by-word  for,  all 
men.  She  it  is.  who  rocks  the  cradle  of  the  race, 
may  we  not  heed  well  how  the  cradle  of  ten  mil- 
lion and  more  people  is  rocked?  She  it  is  who 
holds  the  destiny  of  a  future  great  people  in  her 
hands,  may  we  not  take  those  hands  into  our  own 
and  say — my  sister?  It  was  Miss  Sarah  Forten- 
who  addressed  a  touching  appeal  to  the  white 
women  to  co-operate  with  an  organization  of 
Anti-Slavery  Free  Women  of  America  in  1831, 
and  the  same  is  appliable  today.  She  wrote: 

"We  are  sisters.    God  has  truly  said 
That  of  one  blood  all  nations 

He  has  made. 

O  Christian  woman!  in  a  Christian  land, 
Canst  thou  unblushingly  read 

This  great  command? 

Suffer  the  wrongs  which  wring  our  inmost  heart, 
To  draw  one  throb  of  pity  on  thy  part? 
Our  skins  may  differ,  but  from  thee  we  claim 
A  sister's  privilege  and  a  sister's  name." 

FACTS    ARE    STUBBORN.— Facts    are 

stubborn  things  to  encounter.  It  was  the  white 
man  who  took  advantage  of  the  poor,  enslaved 
Negro  woman  from  the  day  slavery  was  intro- 


354 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


AN  APPEAL  TO  THE  WORLD. 

There  are  now  six  million  men,  women  and  children  IMng  in 
tfcie  country  the  direct  offspring  of  white  and  black. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  365 

duced  to  this  hour.  Emancipation  did  not  check 
him  or  emancipate  her.  What  he  could  not  do 
by  force  he  has  done  by  cunning.  And  this  one 
fact  stands  today  without  a  parallel,  that  the 
African  woman  has  gone  with  the  white  man 
through  an  enforced  vale  of  tears,  degradation 
and  shame,  and  has  not  once  shrunk  from  the 
care,  responsibility  and  duty  of  rearing,  to  the 
best  of  her  ability,  her  illegitimate  children  by 
him.  She  unreservedly  deserves  the  laurels  of  a 
superior  womanhood  for  so  faithfully  and  lov- 
ingly, under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  caring 
for  her  white  babies  and  thereby  improving  her 
race.  She  has  done  more  than  her  duty.  Her 
daughters  now  demand  a  legal  union' with  their 
white  paramours,  and  this  demand  shall  not  long 
be  disregarded.  To  back  out  now  is  not  only 
cowardly  on  his.  part,  but  an  abominable,  un- 
pardonable crime  against  God  and  the  colored 
race  of  which  his  children  are  a  part. 

Pass  laws  against  miscegenation ;  pile  up  your 
infamy  against  a  wronged  progeny  by  such  bar- 
barous procedure;  drone  to  sleep  the  last  pang 
of  conscience,  and  envelop  the  individual  in 
holy  sanctimony;  but  the  glaring  evidence  will 
not  decamp,  and  a  cure  for  a  moral  disease  will 
not  be  found.  What  then  the  cure ? 

Confess  your  sins  and  own  up. 

How? 


356  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

By  legalizing  intermarriage  between  the  races 
in  the  entire  country,  and  by  the  removal  of  race 
prejudice  from  your  colored  children.  Tens  of 
thousands  of  these  children  in  every  hamlet, 
every  town,  every  city  and  obscure  corner  in  the 
South  demand  this.  These  words  we  address 
to  him  who  is  the  enemy  of  moral  progress  and 
social  purity,  in  the  advocacy  of  race  integrity, 
thereby  promoting  the  pernicious  practice  of 
illicit  union  and  illegal  children. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  357 

CHAPTER  XVI 

SCIENTIFIC  ADAPTATION  OF  WHITE  AND  COLOR 

A  SUPERBLY  MATED  PAIR.— A  su- 
perbly mated  pair  is  well  illustrated  in  J.  Roland, 
Ph.  D.,  a  slight,  pale,  nervous  Mental  Tempera- 
ment, and  Rosaline,  a  strong,  dark  Vital  Tem- 
perament. He  is  vitally  deplete,  and  consequently 
rendered  powerless,  physically,  to  sustain  his 
large,  fine-grained,  sensitive  brain;  while  hers  is 
rather  coarse,  sluggish,  slow  to  act,  easygoing, 
but  with  considerable  latent  powers.  In  his 
presence  her  strong  animal  magnetism  attracts 
him.  He  is  vitalized,  strengthened  and  enam- 
oured powerfully  by  being  with  her,  while  she 
is  equally  benefited  by  him.  He  draws  her  up 
to  a  higher  mental  plane ;  causes  her  to  refine  her 
habits,  increase  her  mentation,  and  build  up  a 
finer  brain  fibre  in  her  thick  African  skull.  This 
makes  her  more  attractive  generally,  and  espec- 
ially to  him,  as  her  eye  grows  brighter,  and  her 
whole  physiognomy  glows  with  the  intense  in- 
terest she  takes  in  their  daily  affairs  with  each 
other.  She  draws  him  down  to  her.  He  absorbs 
considerable  of  her  surplus  animal  magnetism, 
which  builds  up  his  wasted  frame,  and  causes 
new  blood  to  course  through  his  body  as  a  conse- 
quence. 


358  HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 

His  fine  brain  becomes  more  active,  and  he 
some  day  discovers  himself  performing  an  unus- 
ual amount  of  mental  and  physical  labor,  such 
as  he  has  not  done  in  years.  Both  are  immensely 
benefited  by  being  scientifically  mated  to  each 
other.  Although  he  has  all  the  signs  of  weak 
lungs  and  general  debility,  he  is  a  man  of  con- 
siderable talent.  Look  at  that  high,  protruding 
forehead,  with  the  strong  indication  of  large 
faculties  of  Comparison  and  Causality,  the  rea- 
soning faculties  of  the  mind.  Also  see  the  per- 
ceptive faculties  well  developed,  and  the  con- 
structive also  well  in  the  lead.  This  makes  him 
a  mechanical  genius,  a  profound  thinker  with 
literary  ability,  and  a  very  useful  member  of 
society.  He  is  deficient  in  vitality.  His  back- 
head  shows  him  to  be  more  feminine  than  mas- 
culine in  general  characteristics,  therefore  he 
has  strong  love  for  children  and  home;  but  his 
procreative  functions  are  too  feeble  to  have  any, 
save  with  one  with  an  over-surplus  of  the  animal 
nature  to  draw  him  to  her  and  arouse  and 
strengthen  his  enfeebled  sexuality. 

A  MISMATED  EXAMPLE.— As  J. 
Roland,  Ph.  D.,  is  naturally  an  attractive,  re- 
fined gentleman,  he  would  have  had  no  difficulty 
in  gaining  the  attention  and  finally  also  a  kind  of 
deeper  regard  and  feeling  in  the  heart  of  the  fine, 
sensitive,  Mrs.  Dr.  Summer. 


OR  THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS 


359 


360  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

Now  for  the  sake  of  an  argument,  let  us  sup- 
pose that  like  likes  like,  and  that  he,  as  many 
other  men  of  his  type  do,  believed  himself  in  love 
with  her,  regardless  of  their  incompatibility,  and 
proposed  to  her  and  she  accepted  him,  as  thou- 
sands before  her  have  done  and  will  do  again. 
They  get  married.  Bells  are  tolled, 
friends  wish  them  a  prosperous,  happy  journey 
through  life;  none  wish  them  a  happy  prosper- 
ous lot  of  children.  That  would  be  immodest, 
vulgar,  something  to  be  ashamed  of — a  shower 
of  rice  and  old  shoes,  and  they  are  gone.  In 
just  one  week  he  wishes  himself  back  to  his 
bachelor  quarters,  or  something  worse;  and  she 
just  wishes  she  were  dead!  But  then  they  are 
married,  and  must  play  married  before  the 
world,  and  make-believe.  They  are  in  this  case 
too  sensible  not  to  remain  friends,  even  real 
chums;  but  that  is  all.  There  could  positively 
be  no  amatory  attraction  between  these  strong, 
Mental  Temperaments,  consequently  no  children 
can  bless  their  union;  and  were  it  possible  that 
a  few  were  born,  they  would  very  likely  be 
angels  before  their  maturity,  or  live  a  little 
longer,  a  wretched  martyr's  life,  paying  the  full 
penalty  for  their  parents'  sins.  This  is  the  old, 
old  story  of  mismating,  either  through  ignorance 
or  else  coolly,  deliberately  planned  for  conveni- 
ence on  the  part  of  one  or  both.  It  would  be 


OR  THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS 


361 


362  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

infinitely  better  if  such  men  and  women  as  these 
would  remain  single  rather  than  join  in  such 
mock-matrimony. 

ALMOST  A  COLORED  VENUS.— Let  us 
take  a  look  at  Rosaline.  She  is  a  colored  matron, 
two-thirds  Negro,  of  a  typical  physiognomy. 
Her  face  beams  with  her  warm,  lovable,  sunny 
disposition.  She  is  not  highly  educated;  is  no 
college  graduate,  but  has  a  fair  knowledge  of 
the  common  English  branches,  taught  in  a  col- 
ored village  school  such  as  we  find  in  many  parts 
of  the  South.  Physically  she  would  almost  pass 
for  a  colored  Venus,  but  not  quite.  She  is  a 
trifle  too  stout,  and  displays  a  little  more  of  the 
vital  or  animal  nature  in  her  make-up  than  a 
Venus  should;  yet  being  so  superbly  sexed,  this 
extra  supply  of  the  vital  forces  is  no  fault.  Her 
waist  is  rather  short  and  her  limbs  straight  and 
beautifully  curved,  with  her  calfs  rather  high, 
disclosing  the  well-defined  mark  of  her  Negro 
origin;  but  this  does  not  detract  from,  or  mar 
the  physical  beauty  of  her  powerful,  well-shaped 
legs.  Her  arms  are  a  magnificent  network  of 
muscles,  displaying  their  latent  strength  at  every 
movement;  yet  they  are  not  ugly,  though  they 
remind  one  of  masculinity,  their  strong  outlines 
are  well  supported  and  superbly  adapted  to  her 
body.  Her  chest  is  deep,  and  she  has  an  ample 
breathing  capacity  that  has  never  been  cramped 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


363 


364  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

to  any  extent  by  the  corset,  and  this,  too,  indi- 
cates a  powerful  constitution.  Her  breasts  are  a 
bit  large,  but  they  are  not  fleshy  or  dormant,  but 
perfectly  adapted  to  supply  her  young  with  an 
abundance  of  good,  rich  milk.  The  kinky  mass 
of  her  beautiful,  glossy  hair  has  been  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  reveal  her  feminine  qualities, 
phrenologically.  To  use  a  homely  English 
phrase,  she  is  not  so  "low  natured"  as  prejudiced 
minds  would  make  us  believe.  Look  at  that  fine 
backhead.  There  is  no  depravity,  brutishness  or 
degeneracy  there.  To  phrenological  scientists  this 
head  indicates  everything  that  is  so  dear,  so  holy, 
so  divine,  so  worshipful  to  the  soul  of  every  good 
man  in  every  good  woman,  of  whatever  color  or 
race.  It  makes  one  think  of  "Home  sweet 
home,"  even  were  it  nothing  more  than  "One 
little  hut  among  de  bushes,  one  dat  I  love." 
There  is  something  divine — the  altar  of  all  hu- 
man affections,  true  and  good — located  there. 
"Mid  pleasures  and  palaces,  though  we  may 
roam,  Be  it  ever  so  humble  there's  no  place  like 
home;  A  charm  from  the  skies  seems  to  hallow 
us  there,  Which  seek  through  the  world,  is  not 
met  with  elsewhere."  It  is  a  positive  truth,  such 
divine  attributes  of  womanhood,  of  motherhood, 
are  not  met  with  elsewhere.  The  "Charm  from 
the  skies"  which  hallows  all  mankind  there,  is 
found  nowhere  else  save  in  a  true  home,  where 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  365 

mother's  love  (of  whatever  race  or  color), 
mother's  sacrifice,  mother's  devotion  to  her  fam- 
ily, are  well  nigh  supreme. 

No  government  can  build  on  a  safer  founda- 
tion than  this,  and  none  can  endure  who  do  not 
thus  build.  Intense  love  for  children,  she  for 
him,  he  for  her  and  both  for  the  spot  in  which 
they  dwell,  are  the  only  incentives  for  the  exist- 
ence of  any  home.  This  colored  woman  has  all 
three  strongly  marked  in  her  makeup.  She  could 
love  most  any  man,  even  if  only  for  the  love  of 
children,  but  all  men  would  by  no  means  be 
scientifically  adapted  to  her,  either  physically 
or  mentally. 

EXAMPLES  OF  PHYSICAL  AND  MEN- 
TAL DEGENERACY.— Supposing  Rosaline 
would  have  mated  with  a  Negro  like  Sam 
Slick,  what  would  have  been  the  result?  Both 
are  passionate.  He  would  not  have  raised  her 
up  to  a  higher  moral  and  mental  plane,  because 
he  is  lower  than  she.  He  would  even  have 
pulled  her  down,  and  caused  her  to  be  more  ex- 
travagant in  the  indulgence  of  the  animal  pas- 
sion. It  would  have  proven  a  calamity  to  this 
sweet-faced  colored  woman,  as  it  has  to  other 
thousands  before  her.  There  is  no  greater  slav- 
ery on  earth  than  that  endured  by  the  wife  of 
the  lazy,  shiftless,  good-for-nothing  black  repro- 
bate of  the  South  today.  And  to  her  children 


366 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


with  him  it  would,  indeed,  have  been  a  dire  mis- 
fortune! They  would  have  been  lower  than 
both,  mentally  and  physically,  in  the  scale  of 
humanity.  They  would  have  been  more  animal 
than  human,  as  far  as  the  social  passions  are  con- 
cerned. Take  a  careful  look  at  Little  Sam,  he 


is  the  product  of  just  such  a  union.  He  is  a 
rapist,  a  sneak-thief;  in  short,  a  Negro  degen- 
erate. He  is  but  one  of  thousands,  born  in  the 
South  every  year,  the  result  of  criminal  and  de- 
generate unions  among  themselves,  and  with 
others  mismated. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOEARD'S   SPOTS  367 

We  have  intimated  elsewhere  that  in  his  na- 
tive or  primitive  conditions  in  Africa,  the  Negro 
can  procreate  without  any  marked  deterioration 
in  his  offspring.  An  instance  has  come  under 
the  writer's  observation  where  a  brother  and  sis- 
ter became  separated  during  the  war,  grew  to 
manhood  and  womanhood,  met  and  married  in 
the  East,  and  after  a  number  of  years,  when  they 
had  a  large  family  of  children  together,  dis- 
covered through  investigation  that  they  were  re- 
lated. Their  children  were  as  good  as  any,  but 
this  proves  nothing.  Many  instances  have  been 
found  where  brothers  and  sisters  produced  as 
fine  offspring  together,  as  they  did  with  others 
'  not  related  to  them ;  but  the  American  Negro  has 
undergone  such  a  process  of  evolution,  and  has 
been  crossed  to  such  an  extent  with  the  Cauca- 
sian, that  careful  selections  are  of  far  more  im- 
portance among  them,  than  among  any  race  of 
people  on  earth.  And  it  is  not  improper 
to  say  here,  that  Little  Sam  belongs  to 
that  class  of  Negroes,  absolutely  unfit  to.  pro- 
create with  any  kind,  of  any  race.  And  to 
prevent  such  from  further  demoralizing  the  hu- 
man race,  it  is  proper  and  just,  in  the  sight  of 
God  and  man,  that  they  be  rendered  sterile,  Do 
not  misunderstand  us.  We  do  not  mean  that 
they  should  have  this  inflicted  upon  them  as  a 
punishment  for  crimes  perpetrated.  Scientifi- 


368  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


SAM, 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  369 

cally  speaking,  they  are  not  guilty  of  any  crime 
committed,  no  matter  how  shocking  or  horrible. 
They  take  to  certain  crimes  as  naturally  as  a 
duck  does  to  water.  They  may  hang  them,  roast 
them  alive,  or  by  degrees  hack  and  slice  them 
up,  as  a  butcher  does  a  carcass ;  as  a  mob  of  poor, 
deluded  creatures  has  sometimes  done  in  this 
highly  civilized  country  (?)  ;  yet  as  far  as  we 
phrenological  scientists  are  concerned,  there  is 
no  more  reason,  no  more  justice,  in  such  horri- 
ble, outrageous  procedure  than  there  is  in  deal- 
ing out  justice  to  a  duck,  by  cutting  off  her  head, 
because  she  persists  in  taking  to  the  pond  in  the 
back  lot.  As  all  others,  these  beings  are  creatures 
of  circumstances.  They  are  not  what  they  are  by 
choice  but  by  nature;  the  result  of  ignorance  on 
the  part  of  mankind. 

HOW  MUCH  BETTER  NOT  THUS 
BORN. — A  great  deal  of  training  from  early 
childhood  of  the  undeveloped  moral  faculties 
would  be  of  marked  benefit  to  them,  as  a  con- 
stant supply  of  blood  to  these  faculties,  or  that 
portion  of  the  brain  where  they  are  located,  de- 
creases the  amount  of  stimulation  to  that  part 
which  is  abnormally  developed,  and,  conse- 
quently, decreases  this  intense,  undesirable  men- 
tal operation;  but  this  scientific  training  is  not 
intelligently  given,  and  so  no  results  may  be 
looked  for  in  that  direction  to  any  marked  extent. 


370  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

And  in  case  this  method  of  treatment  would  be 
adopted  generally,  the  blessings  thus  conferred 
upon  mankind  would  after  all  not  be  much 
greater  than  at  present,  as  the  mischief  of  this 
class  cannot  be  curbed  by  all  mental  gymnastics 
within  the  reach  of  this  or  any  other  age.  Where 
it  has  been  tried  the  old  thing  has  cropped  out 
again  in  such  creatures  of  misfortune,  even  in 
remote  generations. 

It  is  much  easier  to  stop  up  a  leak  in  a  boat 
than  to  bail  out  the  water  as  fast  as  it  comes  in. 
Some  children,  of  every  race  and  color,  thus  un- 
fortunately developed  will  undoubtedly  always 
be  born ;  but  how  much  better,  how  much  more 
humane  not  to  let  more  be  born  than  is  absolutely 
necessary,  to  grow  up,  commit  a  social  crime  and 
then  be  imprisoned  or  executed  by  the  people 
who  allow  this  condition  of  things  to  exist  from 
lack  of  knowledge? 

PHRENOLOGICAL  LOCATION  OF 
THE  SOCIAL  EVIL.— Our  lamented  friend, 
Prof.  L.  A.  Vaught,  the  author  of  "Vaught's 
Practical  Character  Reader,"  has  so  well  illus- 
trated this  point,  that  we  are  induced  to  give  his 
drawing  and  timely  explanation,  such  as  we  have 
in  mind.  He  says:  "The  social  evil  is  a  fact. 
Many  good  and  learned  people  are  trying  to 
check,  modify  or  suppress  it.  Their  intentions 
are  good.  They  shoot  at  it  with  tongue  and  pen. 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS 


371 


That  is,  they  suppose  they  shoot  at  it.  They 
shoot,  but,  unfortunately,  they  do  not  shoot  any 
more  definitely  at  it  than  if  they  stepped  out  of 
their  homes  upon  a  dark  night  when  the  moon 
was  down,  electric  lights  out,  and  shot  into  space 


HOW  REFORMERS  MISS  THE  CENTER 
OF  VICE. 

in  hope  of  hitting  a  burglar.  Why  don't  they 
draw  a  bead  on  it?  Answer:  They  do  not  know 
the  location  of  it.  They  do  not  know  the  nature 
of  it.  They  do  not  know  the  source  of  it.  They 
do  not  know  that  it  is  a  single  element  of  the 


ST=  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

mind.  They  do  not  know  when  nor  where  to 
commence  to  correct  it.  They  ought  to  know. 
They  can  know.  They  can  know  exactly.  They 
can  know  very  soon  after  the  babe  is  born.  They 
can,  if  they  will,  learn  the  location  of  the  faculty 
in  the  brain.  Observe  the  illustration.  Not  one 
of  the  marksmen  has  hit  the  'bull's  eye.'  Every 
shot  has  missed.  What  a  deplorable  waste  of 
time,  energy  and  arrows!  They  have  hit  the  in- 
tellect, which  is  in  front,  the  moral  faculties, 
which  are  in  the  tophead,  pride  and  vanity, 
which  are  in  the  back  crown  of  the  head,  but  not 
a  single  one  has  even  come  close  to  the  exact 
source  of  the  evil.  They  have  not  even  crippled 
it.  How  could  they  cripple  it  till  they  hit  it? 
How  can  they  hit  it  till  they  know  where  it  is? 
It  is  located  in  the  little  brain  directly  back  of 
the  two  bony  prominences  that  may  be  found 
and  felt  behind  the  ears.  When  very  strong  in 
child,  woman  or  man,  this  region  will  be  decid- 
edly full  or  convex  in  form.  It  is  immediately 
below  a  fissure  that  runs  horizontally  above  it, 
and  partly  separates  the  little  brain  from  the  big 
brain,  or,  in  other  words,  the  cerebellum  from 
the  cerebrum.  Its  name  is  Amativeness.  We 
now  have  it  'spotted!' ' 

Does  it  not  occur  to  you,  dear  reader,  that  the 
brute  for  brute  method  so  long  resorted  to,  when 
taken  from  this  sound  scientific  viewpoint,  is  but 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  373 

the  aftermath  of  a  savage  nature,  the  eye  for  eye 
and  tooth  for  tooth  system  of  injustice,  practiced 
in  the  past  ages  of  barbarism? 

Can  you  justly  criticise  us  for  the  strong  con- 
demnation of  such  inhuman  outrages  as  are  per- 
petrated in  this  country  upon  such  unfortunate, 
irresponsible  beings?  How  much  more  rational 
would  it  be,  do  you  not  admit,  to  inaugurate  the 
scientific  system  we  expound  in  this  book,  and 
hit  the  "bull's  eye,"  and  render  unnecessary  all 
mob  violence  and  their  debasing,  demoralizing 
effect  upon  our  civilization? 

OFFSPRING  OF  RIGHT  CROSSING.- 
Now,  let  us  resume  the  actual  occurrence  with 
regard  to  J.  Roland,  Ph.  D.,  and  Rosaline,  his 
mate.  Roland  had  a  fair  knowledge  of  scientific 
adaptation  and  the  assimilation  by  amalgama- 
tion of  the  American  Hamite,  and  also  realized 
that,  for  his  own  personal  benefit,  it  was  a  wise 
step  to  affiliate  with  a  dark  complexioned,  strong, 
robust  maiden;  and  he  found  in  Rosaline  his 
affinity.  What  was  the  result  with  regard  to 
their  offspring?  In  Master  Roland  we  have  a 
fine  likeness  of  their  oldest  son,  and  the  young- 
est are  still  better.  Notice  the  large  mental 
capacity  of  this  child,  and  the  ample  physique 
to  sustain  it — a  fine  large  brain,  on  a  fine  larg* 
body  to  support  it.  His  physiognomy  is  mort 
like  that  of  his  mother  than  his  father,  and,  in- 


374 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


deed,  we  find  that  this  is  nearly  always  the  case 
in  such  crossings;  yet  we  can  clearly  discern  the 
broad,  high  forehead  of  his  father  in  this  lad,  as 
well  as  his  chin;  while  the  mouth  and  nose  are 
more  like  his  mother's.  If  you  will  notice  the 


receding  forehead  of  the  mother,  and  compare 
it  with  the  high,  broad  one  of  the  son ;  and  could 
then  also  compare  the  body  of  the  poor  father 
with  that  of  the  child,  you  could  not  help  but 
marvel  at  the  wonderful  improvement  Nature 
has  here  wrought  in  this  fortunate  boy.  Fortu- 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  375 

nate?  Alas,  he  is  only  a  "little  nigger"  in  the 
eyes  of  America  today.  His  ability  is  unrecog- 
nized. 

In  little  Iraline  we  have  drawn  a  good  like- 
ness of  their  daughter.  What  a  ravishing  beauty, 


what  a  magnificent  specimen  of  human  anatomy! 
Such  a  physiognomy  as  artists  should  rave  over. 
Just  enough  of  the  Negro  tinge  to  make  her  so 
cute  and  lovable — and,  indeed,  she  is  lovable. 
She  has  a  fine  feminine  head  and  figure  to  make 
her  so.  Some  day  she  will  make  an  ideal  wife 


376  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

for  the  right  kind  of  man,  if  her  education  as 
well  as  her  fascinating  beauty  is  not  neglected. 

But  what  are  you  leading  to?  Call  a  "nigger" 
beautiful?  Precisely  so. 

Science  knows  no  prejudice,  is  not  biased; 
gives  credit  where  credit  is  due. 

Produce  your  white  charmers,  and  compare 
them  with  thousands  of  these  dark  beauties,  and 
let  science  determine  the  best  equipped,  the  best 
fitted  for  maternity.  That  is  the  "rub,"  that  is 
the  paramount  question. 

Maternal  fitness  makes  all  girls  charming,  all 
women  attractive  to  all  men,  without  it  none. 

OFFSPRING  ALONE  CONSTITUTES 
TRUE  MARRIAGE.— You  say  we  are  wrong, 
that  mental  ability,  mental  accomplishments,  too, 
attract.  So  they  do ;  but  mental  attraction  alone 
knows  no  sex;  is  simply  cool  admiration  in  both 
men  and  women  among  themselves  and  in  each 
other.  Feminine  qualities,  maternal  fitness  in 
woman,  alone  can  render  her  truly  charming 
and  magnetic  to  the  opposite  sex.  Therefore  it 
now  follows  that  only  maternal  and  paternal  fit- 
ness should  constitute  true  marriage.  It  is  a 
natural  law  that  only  man  disobeys.  All  ani- 
mals thus  fitted  mate  only,  none  others.  All  men 
and  women  not  thus  equipped  cannot  enter  into 
true  marriage,  but  only  mere  partnerships,  which 
ought  to  be  made 'solvent  by  the  parties  con- 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  377 

cerned,  should  they  wish  to  permanently  sepa- 
rate at  any  time,  like  any  other  partnership. 

When  offspring  alone  constitutes  true  mar- 
riage, no  illegitimate  children  will  be  born,  and 
every  man  will  be  compelled  to  stick  to  his -affin- 
ity, of  whatever  color  or  race.  This,  as  we  have 
just  intimated,  is  in  harmony  with  the  procrea- 
tive  law,  the  highest  and  noblest  act  of  Nature; 
and  we  believe  that  no  people  or  country  can 
reach  its  highest  state  of  civilization  before  they 
heed  this,  the  highest  of  all  God's  command- 
ments. 

Talk  about  the  possibility  of  making  the 
marriage  and  divorce  laws  of  this  country  uni- 
form. There  is  no  ground  upon  which  such 
uniformity  is  possible,  save  that  just  stated. 
When  offspring  alone  constitutes  true  marriage, 
and  all  other  unions  are  recognized  by  law  as 
mere  partnerships,  this  important  question  will 
soon  settle  itself  rightly. 

Take  heed,  all  who  have  the  best  interest  of 
mankind  at  heart.  Let  not  this  generation  pass 
away  before  public  sentiment  demands  this  ra- 
tional change  in  our  marriage  relations. 

We  have  spoken  of  this  here,  especially  for  the 
benefit  of  the  colored  women  of  the  South.  We 
feel  as  though  we  would  like  to  plead  for  them 
in  this  regard,  for  we  know  only  too  well  what 
vast  benefit  they  would  derive  from  the  inaug- 


378  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

uration  of  such  marriage  reform.  And  would 
it  not  also  prove  equally  beneficial  to  all  classes 
of  whites?  The  present  marriage  and  divorce 
system  of  our  civilization  is  a  mortal  stain  that 
ought  to  be  eradicated. 


OR  THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  379 

CHAPTER  XVII 

BEAUTIFUL  EXAMPLES  ILLUSTRATED 

THE  MATING  OF  SUPERIOR  DIS- 
SIMILARITIES.—Mrs.  Dr.  Summer  had  a 
knowledge  of  scientific  mating,  and  abhorred  the 
vulgar  sentiment  prevalent  among  a  certain  de- 
graded populace  in  this  country,  concerning  the 
eligibility  of  the  upper  class  of  colored  people. 
She,  like  other  women  of  advanced  ideas  and 
large  mental  capacity,  believed  that  the  woman 
who  can  leave  strong,  well  developed  children, 
mentally  and  physically,  by  affiliating  with  a 
race  of  marked  dissimilarities,  bestows  upon 
mankind  the  highest  and  noblest  gift.  She  had 
a  taste  for  the  dark,  vital,  powerful  masculinity. 
She  could  have  found  one  of  such  characteris- 
tics among  the  whites,  but  repudiated  all  preju- 
dice and  decided  in  favor  of  a  colored  gentle- 
man, Mr.  Summer,  who  attended  school  in  her 
native  town  in  the  North.  She  met  him,  was 
attracted,  and  found  that  she  had  not  only  met 
her  intellectual  equal,  but  also  an  ideal  father  of 
her  future  children,  although  they  would  be 
tinged  with  dark  blood.  Prohibit  such  a  splen- 
did union?  Nonsense.  Behold!  what  hath 
God  wrought?  Her  children,  to  be  sure,  are 


380  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

dark-skinned,  curly-headed,  pretty  little  mis- 
chiefs. They  are  remarkably  fine;  they  will  be 
the  progenitors  of  other  fine  people  of  another, 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  381 

greater  age  as  the  world  moves  on.  Far  better 
these  with  new  blood,  new  affinities,  and  a 
definite  mission  of  sublime  importance  before 
them,  than  none,  or  a  puny  few,  with  no  future 
of  any  consequence. 

In  Master  Summer  we  have  a  good  likeness  of 
their  oldest  child;  and  this  portrait  speaks  for  it- 
self. He  is  fine  beyond  computation.  Now,  the 
father,  Dr.  Summer,  of  the  child  is  a  true  mu- 
latto. His  mother  was  a  well-proportioned 
black,  though  simple  woman,  of  whom  we  pro- 
duce a  drawing  in  Betsey;  while  his  father  was 
a  southern  planter,  of  whom  we  also  produce  a 
likeness  in  Summerfield,  whose  father  came  to 
Alabama  in  the  early  days,  and  belonged  to  the 
sturdy,  old  Virginia,  aristocratic  stock. 

THREE  GENERATIONS.— Little  Master 
Summer's  grandfather  was  a  true  type  of  the  old 
southern  aristocracy  (a  defender  of  his  race), 
while  his  grandmother  was  a  black  servant  in 
his  grandfather's  household.  We  therefore  here 
produce  the  third  generation.  In  the  first  cross- 
ing the  mother  was  a  full  Negress  and  the  father 
a  full  Caucasian,  while  in  the  second  the  father 
was  one-half  white  and  the  mother  a  full  Cauca- 
sian; which  makes  this  boy  two-thirds  white, 
and  as  fine  a  specimen  of  physical  and  intellect- 
ual boyhood  as  can  be  found  among  any  people, 
of  any  race.  On  his  father's  side  he  inherited 


382 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


383 


the  strong,  vital  or  animal  qualities  of  his  black 
grandmother,  and  the  fine,  sensitive,  cunning, 
intellectual  characteristics  of  his  white  grand- 
father; and  on  his  mother's  side  he  obtained  the 
strong  moral  and  religious  faculties,  which,  al- 


together,  give  him  the  fine  proportioned  head, 
so  admirably  balanced.  He  is  not  a  genius, 
which  is  invariably  one  prominently  developed 
in  the  genius  producing  faculties.  For  instance, 
like  J,  Roland,  whose  progeny  with  Rosaline 
inherited  them,  and  provided  them  with  power- 


384 


HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 


ful,  tenacious  qualities,  capable  of  an  enormous 
amount  of  mental  work,  as  so  well  illustrated  in 
Master  Roland.  In  Master  Summer  we  have  a 
character  of  substantial  qualities,  so  well  bal- 
anced mentally  and  physically,  that  he  will  live 


to  a  ripe  old  age,  and  fill  a  place  in  life  of  a 
religious  and  educational  character  with  great 
credit.  His  father  prepared  for  the  ministry, 
but  while  he  is  a  fine  logical  speaker  he  has  not 
the  spiritual  and  moral  qualities  his  son  inher- 
ited from  his  mother,  consequently  he  would 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS 


385 


have  made  a  better  lawyer  than  he  is  preacher. 
Timely  phrenological  advice  would  have  pre- 
vented this  error  in  the  choice  of  his  vocation. 

Look   at  the  likeness   of   the  black  mother, 
Betsey,  and  then  at  her  son  and  grandson,  Master 


//a  steP  2 u.  m  m  &  i*. 


Summer;  and  if  you  are  at  all  cognizant  of  men- 
tal development  you  will  observe  the  phenom- 
enal advancement  in  the  scale  of  human  intellect, 
without  the  slightest  physical  loss,  but  rather 
gain. 

Now,  this  process  need  never  deteriorate,  but 

25 


386 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


on  the  contrary  can  still  undergo  greater  im- 
provements in  the  succeeding  generations.  If 
the  next  crossing  is  again  with  a  white  woman 
in  Master  Summer's  case;  and  if  this  woman  is, 
like  his  mother,  of  a  Nervous-Mental  Tempera- 
ment, their  children  will  be  capable  of  still 


greater  mental  accomplishment,  provided  the 
law  of  sex-amalgamation  is  not  violated.  These 
should  then  fall  back  on  their  grandmother's 
side,  and  again  intermarry  with  intelligent  mu- 
lattoes  or  others  of  a  dark,  Vital  Temperament. 
This  would  then  again  produce  offspring  like 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARP'S    SPOTS  387 

their  grandfather,  Master  Summer,  only  a  great 
deal  finer,  both  mentally  and  physically.  Thus 
the  process  can  be  continued  for  a  number  of 
generations,  until  the  Negro  is  entirely  assim- 
ilated by  this  scientific  method  of  amalgamation. 


THE  PROGENY  OF  THE  UNRELI- 
ABLE FATHER.— In  McNay  we  have  a 
Scotchman  of  a  Vital  Temperament  and  light 
complexion.  He  is  a  large,  powerful  man  of 
extravagant  affections  and  plodding  character. 
He  married  Clara  McNay,  a  colored  maiden, 
a  trifle  more  white  than  black,  yet  quite  dark. 


388 


HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 


She  is  very  nicely  mated  to  him;  being  rather 
tall  and  slender,  yet  not  too  slight.  She  has  a 
beautiful  form  for  her  type  of  womanhood.  She 
is  rather  short  waisted,  with  broad  hips  and  long 
well-developed  limbs.  She  would  not  be  called 
a  beauty  by  many  men,  yet  she  is  not  homely. 


Met/ay. 

She  is  of  a  type  we  often  meet  throughout  the 
South,  and  which  is  in  a  measure  quite  charm- 
ing, and  belongs,  generally,  to  a  class  of  the 
most  reliable  and  industrious  people,  therefore 
this  class  has  been  most  desired  by  white  men  to 
affiliate  with  in  various  sections  of  the  country. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  38£ 

She  has  eyes  that  are  remarkably  expressive  and 
magnetic.  Such  eyes  "haunt"  McNay  night 
and  day  when  they  have  once  looked  into  his 
half-closed  amatory  optics.  He  is  not  a  very  re- 
liable husband,  as  his  affections  are  easily  trans- 
ferred from  one  charmer  to  another,  yet  such 
eyes  will  control  him  and  keep  his  affections  in 
the  "straight  and  narrow  way"  better  than  any 
other  human  power.  Those  eyes  also  indicate  a 
soulful  character,  active  intellect,  and  a  reliable,' 
faithful  wife  and  mother.  Their  children  are 
exceptionally  fine.  They  exhibit  a  great  deal  of 
their  father's  vitality,  and  also  a  fair  share  of 
their  mother's  soulful  characteristics.  They  are 
better  than  either. 

We  give  scientific  reasons:  He  is  unreliable 
in  his  affections,  they  being  mainly  of  the  ama- 
tory sort,  and  he  is  strong  in  imparting  these 
undesirable  qualities  to  his  offspring.  She  op- 
poses them  on  her  side  by  her  powerful  conjugal 
and  parental  love,  which  are  very  strong  in  many 
of  her  class  of  women  of  color.  And,  indeed, 
were  it  not,  she  would  not  be  the  possessor  of 
such  open,  bright,  pretty  eyes. 

All  her  love  is  wrapped  up  in  him  and  the 
children  by  him;  and  these  strong  affections  are 
bound  to  be  transmitted  to  her  children,  while 
his  superior  intellect  is  also  well  marked,  conse- 
quently, this  produces  the  beautiful  blending, 


390  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

perfect  amalgamation  in  their  superior  posterity, 
as  illustrated  in  Master  McNay.  This  boy  re- 
sembles his  father  in  the  strong  chin,  powerful 
jaw,  neck  and  body  generally,  and  also  has  his 
superior  mental  development,  but  he  resembles 
his  mother  (beside  the  African  strain)  in  his 
open  eye,  indicating  the  same  characteristics  she 
possesses — viz.,  the  soulful,  spiritual  qualities, 
and  higher  moral  attributes,  that  his  sensual 
father  does  not  possess. 

Thus  we  could  give  scores  of  examples  that 
have  come  under  our  observation,  where  unruly, 
or  rather  immoral  men  affiliated  with  the  purer 
class  of  girls  of  color,  without  transmitting  all 
their  undesirable  qualities;  and  in  such  cases  we 
have  also  found  that  the  mental  capabilities  were 
invariably  improved  in  the  progeny  of  such 
crossings.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  found 
that  a  low  type  of  white  man,  thus  crossing  with 
a  woman  of  a  low  moral  nature,  generally  trans- 
mit all  their  vicious  characteristics  to  their  off- 
spring, which  makes  a  very  undesirable  class,  be- 
ing in  some  instances  minus  all  that  is  most  de- 
sirable in  a  man  or  woman.  The  same  fact  is 
applicable  to  vicious,  immoral  whites;  and  in 
both  cases  such  unions  should  be  prohibited  by 
means  advocated  in  this  work.  We  give  reasons 
why  such  crossings  result  in  inferior  progeny,  in 
the  succeeding  chapter. 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  391 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

LOVE,  OR  SEX-AMALGAMATION 

HOW  SUPERIOR  CHILDREN  ARE 
BORN. — We  have  spoken  of  the  harmonious 
attachment  between  Roland,  Rosaline  and  others 
in  preceding  chapters,  and  the  admirable  results 
attained  in  their  progeny.  Can  these  results  be 
alone  attributed  to  the  fact  that  they  are  naturally 
adapted  to  each  other?  We  would  not  be  fair 
with  our  readers  if  we  said,  yes.  There  is  an- 
other cause,  another  law  which  alone  can,  in 
connection  with  natural  affiliation,  produce  the 
best  and  most  perfect  offspring  obtainable;  and 
that  is  a  Right  Love-State.  A  blighted,  im- 
paired or  passive  love-state  in  one  or  both  par- 
ents produces  inferior  offspring,  while  a  right 
state  produces  superior;  and  the  more  perfect 
and  harmonious  love  is  maintained  between  well 
adapted  parents,  the  more  perfection  and  su- 
periority may  be  found  in  their  children.  This 
all-important  fact  we  wish  the  reader  to  bear  in 
mind,  in  connection  with  the  assimilation  by 
amalgamation  of  the  Afro-American.  Children 
of  parents  of  whom  one  is  colored  and  who  are 
in  a  loving-state,  are  harmonious  and  homo- 


392  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

geneous,  and  invariably  better  than  their  parents, 
because  they  inherit  the  excellent  qualities  of 
both;  while  those  who  are  imperfectly  blended 
are  both  inferior  to  their  parents  and  self-con- 
tradictory. 

To  illustrate  this  point,  we  may  say  that  par- 
ents can  be  likened  unto  two  metals,  partially  or 
improperly  melted  and  thrown  together.  The 
result  is  imperfect  amalgamation ;  leaving  all  of 
one  metal  in  one  place,  and  all  of  the  other  in 
another.  Excessive  passions  on  his  side,  and 
passivity  on  hers,  render  their  progeny  mostly 
like  him,  and  consequently  there  is  no  marked 
improvement,  and  vice  versa.  But  if  both  are 
thoroughly  roused,  and  in  a  fine,  loving  condi- 
tion, but  not  sensual,  the  magnificent  blending, 
the  absolute  oneness  of  themselves,  will  be  fully 
transmitted  to  their  offspring;  and  thus  a  su- 
perior child,  mentally  and  physically,  is  the  re- 
sult. We  have  observed  this  fact  in  thousands 
of  cases;  both  in  the  crossings  of  the  colored  and 
whites,  and  in  the  mulatto  and  other  fairer  ones 
with  the  dark  and  black,  as  well  as  in  two  whites. 
You  can  find  hundreds  of  families,  where  either 
mother  or  father  is  dark  or  black,  in  which  one 
child  may  be  beautifully  blended,  and,  conse- 
quently, superior  to  its  parents ;  another  may  be 
black  like  one  of  its  parents,  and  mentally  in- 
ferior, but  physically  superior;  still  another  may 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  393 

be  fair  like  one  of  its  parents,  and  mentally 
superior,  but  physically  inferior.  Now,  it  is 
said  that  this  one  takes  after  its  father,  that  one 
after  its  mother,  and  another  after  both.  But, 
why?  For  no  other  reason  than  that  just  stated. 
If  parents,  of  whatever  race  or  color,  would  ob- 
serve this  creative  law  of  amalgamation,  and 
enter,  and  remain  per-petually  in  a  loving,  blend- 
ing, harmonious  state;  and  not  fuss,  wound,  in- 
flame, impair  and  deaden  their  love,  during  the 
years  in  which  their  children  are  born,  what  a 
marvelous  evolutionary  process  would  not  the 
colored  as  well  as  the  white  race  undergo. 

Inferior  parents  often  have  superior  children, 
while  superior  ones  have  inferior.  This  is  be- 
cause the  former  often  maintain  a  lovable  con- 
dition, while  the  latter  wound,  inflame  and  disap- 
point their  love-state  most  often;  because  the 
higher  organized  the  more  sensitive,  and  the 
easier  impaired.  While  parents,  who  live  in  a 
beautiful  blended  state  of  love,  transmit  all  the 
highest  and  noblest  qualities  of  their  characters 
to  their  children,  just  the  reverse  is  true  of  those 
who  live  in  a  sensual,  crabby,  sour,  disappointed 
love-state. 

All  lovers,  all  parents,  take  heed!  Do  not 
cheat  yourselves  and  the  world  out  of  the  high- 
est and  noblest  that  Nature  has  in  store  for  you. 
This  is  holy  ground;  they  who  tread  thereon 


394  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

must  be  pure,  sanctified  and  elevated,  or  become 
debased  and  debasers — robbers  of  virtue,  hounds 
of  impurity,  blasphemers,  thieves,  liars,  bums 
and  cut-throats — all,  all  have  their  origin  here. 

There  may  be  a  blemish,  a  weakness,  a  flaw 
in  your  character;  "cut  it  out"  by  getting  into  a 
pure,  sweet,  blended  love-state  with  your  life- 
companion,  with  your  lover,  before  you  trans- 
mit such  a  blemish  or  weak  tendency  to  your  off- 
spring. No  human  being  has  a  moral  right  be- 
fore God  to  propagate,  who  is  not  thus  prepared 
for  this  holy  office.  Unfortunate  development 
of  the  mental  faculties  (or  more  correctly  speak- 
ing brain  organs  in  children)  may  thus  be 
averted,  and  only  thus,  as  well  as  many  physical 
defects. 

In  the  present  transmutation  of  the  Negro 
race  in  America  from  the  primitive  to  the  higher 
realms  of  civilization,  we  must  heed  the  warn- 
ing and  see  the  impending  dangers  about  us,  and 
seek  salvation  from  both  physical  and  spiritual 
bondage,  in  a  wiser  and  better  progeny. 

WHO  IS  AND  WHO  IS  NOT  MAR- 
RIED.— We  reiterate  the  fact  that  "like  pro- 
duces like,"  and  that  no  human  being  has  a 
moral  right  to  propagate,  who  is  not  sanctified 
and  prepared  for  this  holy  office.  No  married 
couple,  though  married  a  thousand  times  by  the 
laws  of  the  land  is  married  by  the  laws  of  God, 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  395 

if  their  union  is  a  loveless  one;  and  they  commit 
a  crime  against  society,  and  against  Nature's 
God,  if  they  bring  loveless, .  inferior  children 
into  the  world.  They  have  no  more  right  to 
propagate  than  the  vilest  criminal.  When  they 
cohabit  they  commit  adultery,  and  their  chil- 
dren are  born  bastards.  Only  those  who  har- 
monize and  are  in  a  right  love-state  can  cohabit 
without  committing  a  sin  against  Nature's  God, 
and  against  their  own  offspring.  Marriage 
ceremonies  have  little  to  do  with  it.  Those 
morally  corrupt  cannot  approach  the  sweet, 
sacred  union  of  true  wedlock;  of  a  right  sex- 
amalgamation.  When  love  ceases  true  marriage 
is  at  an  end.  Nature  recognizes  marriage  only 
in  love,  and  offspring  is  the  culmination  of  love 
and  marriage.  Nature  repudiates  and  condemns 
marriage,  or  the  union  of  the  sexes  without  love, 
in  the  production  of  an  inferior  progeny.  Mar- 
riage without  love  is  a  legal  prostitution.  It 
contradicts  the  Divine  command — viz.,  to  be 
"one  flesh"  and  to  multiply. 

First,  the  twain  must  be  made  one-flesh — love; 
and  secondly,  the  fruit  of  love  must  be  realized 
in  the  child.  This  is  the  beginning,  the  aim 
and  end  of  so-called  marriage  in  the  economy  of 
physical  life. 

For  the  above  reasons  we  believe  that  the  mat- 
ing of  the  sexes  is  a  Divine  institution,  because 


396  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

Love  is  Divine  in  that  it  demands  offspring — 
marriage  may  not. 

RIGHT  AND  WRONG  SEX-AMALGA- 
MATION.— Why  was  not  more  of  the  unde- 
sirable mental  condition  of  McNay,  in  chapter 
seventeen,  transmitted  to  his  son,  Master  Mc- 
Nay in  the  same  chapter?  Answer:  Because 
Clara  McNay,  his  mate,  was  so  completely 
enamored  with  him,  and  her  higher  personality 
was  so  admirably  blended  with  his,  that  a  per- 
fect amalgamation  took  place.  Had  not  this 
been  the  case,  the  reverse  would  have  been  true. 
Master  McNay  would  have  inherited  all  of  his 
father's  animal  passions  as  well  as  those  of  his 
mother's  and  he  would,  in  consequence,  have 
been  a  very  undesirable  character  to  run  at  large. 

What  about  the  statement  made  in  a  preceding 
chapter,  that  if  Rosaline  had  mated  with  Sam 
Slick,  the  resulting  offspring  would  have  been 
like  Little  Sam?  Are  we  sure  of  our  assertion? 

Yes,  absolutely  sure.  Hundreds  of  observa- 
tions confirm  this  statement,  and  these  drawings, 
taken  from  life  by  the  author,  are  living  testi- 
monies. How  else  could  so  many  degenerates 
be  born  and  exist  among  these  people  and  the 
whites?  There  certainly  is  a  cause  for  every 
effect,  and  in  this  regard  it  is  especially  true. 
Rosaline  and  Sam  Slick  could  not  produce  the 
right  temperature  necessary  for  a  complete 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  397 

fusion.  Their  excessive  passions  produce  an 
"over-heated"  state,  and  consequently  burn  out 
all  the  higher  mental  qualities,  and  only  transmit 
these  in  a  weak,  flickering  quantity,  while  all 
that  part  which  pertains  to  the  cunning,  shrewd, 
deceitful,  revengeful,  lustful,  is  intensely  exag- 
gerated and  flogged  into  abnormal  action.  The 
very  fact  of  their  being  together  lashes  their  ani- 
mal passions  into  abnormal,  inflamed  action; 
lowers  all  their  desires,  and  the  resulting  issue 
cannot  be  but  unmanageable  and  fiery,  vicious 
and  low.  They  experience  no  spiritual  cohabit- 
ing with  the  physical.  We  give  ample  proof  in 
this  work  to  confirm  this  fact;  and  this  is  the  sole 
reason  why  we  advocate  the  sterilization  of  the 
vicious,  uncontrollable,  criminal  and  degenerate 
class.  There  is  no  other  efficient  method  to  elim- 
inate this  crowning  evil  among  all  the  races  of 
man;  if  there  is  we  would  like  to  know  it.  What 
else  can  we  do  with  the  progeny  of  the  absolutely 
unfit,  that  are  crowding  in  upon  us,  and  are  con- 
taminating the  masses  of  this  great  age?  Be- 
tween Roland  and  Rosaline  there  is  scarcely  a 
shadow  of  possibility  for  criminal  issue,  under 
ordinary  conditions.  With  him  Rosaline's  pas- 
sions are  prolonged;  and  thus  a  complete  and 
beautiful  amalgamation  alone  can  and  has  pro- 
duced the  many  admirable  types  of  half  and 
quarter  breeds,  and  others  of  African  origin  we 
meet  with  and  so  often  refer  to  in  this  work. 


398  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

THE  LOSS  OF  STAMINA  ATTRIB- 
UTED TO  UNNATURAL  CONDI- 
TIONS.— Now,  it  has  so  often  been  stated,  and 
at  times  by  men  of  some  authority,  that  the 
Negro,  when  crossing  with  whites  the  resulting 
offspring,  or  those  further  remote  from  the  Afri- 
can, lose  their  native  stamina.  In  connection  with 
what  we  have  said  above,  this  subject  naturally 
presents  itself  to  us,  and  we  are  no  doubt  ex- 
pected to  say  what  we  have  found  to  be  facts, 
in  this  regard.  What  we  shall  say  on  this  so- 
called  important  question  will  be  short,  to  the 
point,  free  from  bias — the  result  of  careful 
study.  We  shall  not  juggle  words  or  waste  valu- 
able space.  In  the  first  place,  we  do  not  deem 
this  question  of  such  paramount  importance  as 
may  be  supposed.  Prejudice  has  here  as  every- 
where, set  its  iron  heel.  We  will  ask  you  the 
following  question  to  ponder  over;  it  will  go  a 
long  way  toward  giving  you  an  idea  of  the  situ- 
ation: Who  pushes  the  wheel  of  progress  the 
hardest,  spends  the  most  energy  and  carries  the 
heaviest  responsibilities  in  the  colored  race? 

Answer:  The  man  of  color,-  in  whose  veins 
throbs  the  blood  of  a  Caucasian.  All  through 
this  work  we  reiterate  this  fact. 

When  the  process  of  amalgamation  is  prop- 
erly, lawfully,  scientifically  carried  on,  there 
is  not  an  iota  of  danger  from  loss  of  native 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  399 

stamina  in  the  immediate  or  remote  progeny  of 
the  crossings  of  whites  with  the  darkest  skinned, 
or  with  any  of  the  intervening  types,  all  the  way 
from  a  full  Ethiopian  to  the  slightest  trace  of 
African  blood.  The  fact  that  the  half-breeds, 
quarter-breeds,  etc.,  of  the  race,  are  the  main- 
stay, or,  in  other  words,  the  real  backbone  of  the 
Afro-American,  is  sufficient  proof  to  most  any 
thoughtful,  enquiring  man,  that  there  must  not 
only  often  be  a  greater  mental  capacity,  but  also 
a  decided  supply  of  nerve  energy  to  sustain  the 
remarkable  display  of  intellectual  and  physical 
ability  and  durability  in  them.  Reader,  use  your 
judgment;  is  it  not  rather  astonishing  that 
the  offspring  of,  many  times  the  basest  kind  of 
white  man  and  the  commonest  kind  of  Negress, 
have  not  proven  more  direful  than  they  have? 

Root  out  the  danger  that  lies  in  the  wake  of 
this  class,  and  a  powerful,  recuperating  influ- 
ence will  permeate  the  race.  And  then  let  in- 
telligent men  and  women  of -the  race  (the  hog 
will  wallow  in  the  mire)  make  proper  selections 
among  themselves  and  affiliate  also  with  the  de- 
sirable whites  wherever  advisable,  and  practice 
the  love-state  that  produces  perfect  amalgama- 
tion, and  the  result  will  be  ultimate  mental  and 
physical  elevation. 

•  The  depleted  physical  condition,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  lack  of  metal,  which  is  apparent  in 


400  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

many  of  the  lower  and  middle  classes  of  colored 
men,  is  almost  entirely  due:  First,  to  an  un- 
natural state  of  conception  and  birth;  and,  sec- 
ondly, to  the  abuse  of  the  generative  organs,  the 
use  of  cigarettes  and  whiskey,  and  a  life  void  of 
purpose,  system  or  proper  rules  of  health.  In 
our  chapter  on  social  vice  we  have  already 
spoken  somewhat  of  this  matter.  It  suffices  here 
to  say  that  all  the  debasing  and  life-sapping 
practices  the  whites  are  addicted  to,  are  partici- 
pated in  by  the  colored.  And  these  social  vices 
have,  we  admit  and  deplore,  already  seriously 
impaired  the  physical  and  moral  health  of  the 
race.  And,  we  have  reasons  to  believe,  from  ob- 
servations made,  that  the  white  American  youth 
.is  on  the  same  "slippery  slough  of  destruction. 'r 
WHAT  PROFESSOR  WM.  A.  MC- 
KEEVER  SAYS  OF  COLLEGE  STU- 
DENTS.— William  A.  McKeever,  professor 
of  philosophy  in  the  Kansas  State  University, 
who  has  made  a  study  of  this  matter  among  the 
whites,  has  this  to  say:  "There  are  in  the  Kan- 
sas State  Agricultural  college  today  about  half 
a  hundred  students  who  are  worthless  as  such, 
and  who  really  ought  to  be  dismissed  and  put  at 
work.  Some  of  them  have  been  sent  to  college 
with  the  hope  that,  with  the  new  opportunities 
offered,  they  would  'brace  up.'  Others  are  mis- 
leading their  fond,  credulous  parents  in  the  be- 


V 

OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS          401 

lief  that  creditable  college  work  really  is  being 
done.  Doubtless  every  large  institution  similar 
to  this  one  has  its  same  question  of  delinquents. 
But  if  sent  back  home,  or  elsewhere,  with  the 
thought  of  their  engaging  in  something  really 
worth  while,  the  majority  of  these  young  per- 
sons— young  women  of  such  character  are  much 
fewer  than  young  men — would  show  the  same 
characteristics  of  dependence  and  shiftlessness. 
There  is  much  evidence  that  they  have  been 
'spoiled  in  the  raising'  rather  than  low  born." 

He  asks:  "What,  of  scientific  value,  do  we 
know  about  developing  character  in  the  young?" 
We  would  remind  the  professor  of  the  fact  that 
phrenological  science  has  long  "known,"  and 
its  students  and  practitioners  have  long  preached 
"about  developing  character  in  the  young," 
scientifically.  But  he  speaks  with  such  good 
judgment  and  his  suggestions  are  of  such  value 
to  both  white  and  colored,  that  we  shall  here 
quote  him  more  lengthily:  "Why  cannot  there 
be  instituted  by  legal  enactment  a  standing  com- 
mittee of  experts  of  eminent  ability  and  unques- 
tioned authority  to  make  experiments  and  in- 
quiries extending  over  a  wide  field,  with  a  view 
to  acquiring  some  scientific  knowledge  on  the 
subject  of  child  training  in  the  home?  There 
is  today  no  such  service  being  performed. 

26 


402  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

THE  HUMAN  RACE  NEGLECTED.— 

"Other  matters  of  less  importance,  such  as  sheep 
raising,  have  long  ago  been  reduced  to  a  science, 
but  parents  go  on  rearing  their  children  as  of 
old,  guided  only  by  instinct,  tradition  and  preju- 
dice. As  a  result  there  are  among  us  today  thou- 
sands of  criminals,  paupers  and  genteel  depend- 
ents whose  lives  might  have  been  made  useful 
through  intelligent  training  in  childhood.  Ac- 
tual experiments  could  be  carried  on  in  orphan 
asylums,  reform  schools  and  in  ordinary  homes 
where  there  might  be  a  willingness  to  co-operate 
in  the  work.  The  field  of  inquiry  would  be  the 
country  at  large,  while,  the  results  in  all  cases 
would  be  carefully  tabulated.  In  every  state  in 
the  union  there  has  been  established  a  station 
for  experimentation  in  matters  that  pertain  to  the 
productiveness  of  the  soil  and  to  animal  hus- 
bandry. Hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  are 
being  expended  annually  in  an  effort  to  enable 
the  producer  to  realize  more  satisfactorily  upon 
his  investments  in  every  type  of  agricultural  ani- 
mal from  the  'beef  steer  and  his  sister  to  the 
helpful  hen.'  The  government  at  Washington 
keeps  hundreds  of  experts  employed  in  the 
bureau  of  plant  industry.  Many  of  these  are 
stationed  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  while 
others  are  traveling  abroad  in  the  interest  of 
studying  and  collecting  cereals  and  grasses  that 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  403 

might  be  successfully  propagated  in  the  United 
States.  All  this  work  is  contributing  immensely 
to  the  country's  wealth,  and  especially  to  the 
material  well-being  of  the  agricultural  classes. 
The  results  of  all  these  investigations  and  ex- 
periments are  worked  out  on  the  basis  of  mathe- 
matical science.  Tabulated  bulletins  are  being 
sent  out  by  the  hundred  to  those  interested,  so 
that  scientific  methods  of  farming  and  stock- 
raising  are  fast  supplanting  the  old-fashioned, 
wasteful  practices.  If  a  farmer  has  a  three-year- 
old  horse  that  balks  or  a  yearling  calf  that  acts 
a  little  queer,  he  can  appeal  to  the  experiment 
station  and  receive,  free  of  cost,  a  scientific  bul- 
letin and  a  lengthy  personal  letter  covering  the 
case.  But  if  the  balky  or  queer-acting  creature 
chances  to  be  his  sixteen-year-old  son  or  his 
fledgling  daughter,  he  must  fight  the  case  out 
alone,  or  assisted  only  by  a  despairing  wife. 

CHANGING  CONDITIONS  CHANGE 
CHARACTER.  — "Hearsay  and  traditional 
methods  of  training  children  have  been  in  use  so 
long  as  a  mere  matter  of  course  that  it  is  difficult 
for  us  to  realize  the  need  of  a  change.  Time 
was  when  pioneer  conditions  were  so  common 
throughout  this  country  that  the  mere  attending 
circumstances  could  be  depended  upon  to  bring 
out  forceful  and  effective  traits  of  character.  But 
in  these  modern,  prosperous  times  such  condi- 


404  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

tions  have  almost  entirely  disappeared.  The 
people  are  becoming  more  and  more  closely 
massed  and  the  allurements  to  exciting  experi- 
ences are  becoming  correspondingly  more 
numerous  in  the  child's  environment.  Our  old- 
fashioned  methods  of  training  the  young  are  no 
longer  adequate  to  cope  with  these  changing  con- 
ditions. The  child  gets  into  the  exciting  situa- 
tion before  he  has  had  enough  practice  in  self- 
restraint  to  enable  him  to  combat  it  successfully. 
We  have  on  our  hands  today  thousands  of  young 
women  and  men  who  have  been  well  born,  but 
ignorantly  reared,  and  who,  as  a  consequence, 
are  deficient  in  morals  and  economically  useless. 
Of  the  many  in  the  college  where  I  teach,  who 
fail  in  their  classes,  very  few  are  naturally  dull 
and  inapt  in  their  studies.  Most  of  them  were 
born  with  bright  minds  and  quick  wits  in  poten- 
tiality, and  they  are  the  children  of  industrious, 
prosperous  parents;  but  they  are  pathetically  in- 
efficient because  of  overindulgence  in  purely  im- 
pulsive and  spontaneous  forms  of  activity  during 
the  years  of  childhood  and  adolescence,  and  an 
almost  complete  lack  of  experience  in  sustained, 
purposive  effort.  This  same  condition  exists  in 
all  our  schools  and  colleges.  We  have  all  around 
us  parents  who  themselves  have  been^efficient 
largely  through  the  rigorous  experiences  that  are 
incident  to  pioneer  life,  but  who  are  more  or  less 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  405 

ignorant  of  the  source  of  their  own  strength  of 
character. 

PARENTS  ARE  CRIMINALLY  NEG- 
LIGENT.— "The  wealthy  centers  of  the  coun- 
try are  full  of  Harry  Thaws — minus  the  shoot- 
ing incident,  of  course.  These  over-indulged, 
sickly  sentimental  young  men  are  driven  to  every 
conceivable  kind  of  depravity  by  the  insatiable 
craving  of  an  abnormal  nature.  As  times  grow 
more  prosperous  this  dissolute  manner  of  rearing 
the  young  will  become  our  greatest  example  of 
criminal  negligence,  unless  we  develop  some 
scientific  means  of  correcting  the  evil.  This  evil 
is  greatly  aggravated  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that 
our  newspaper  publicity  often  makes  one  of  these 
dissipated  youths  the  chief  player  in  a  great  na- 
tional theater.  Witness  the  Thaw  case.  Thou- 
sands of  such  young  men — and  there  always  will 
be  found  a  young  woman  to  match  each  one- 
will  risk  their  bankrupt  reputations  and  even 
their  necks  in  the  interest  of  getting  into  the  lime- 
light and  securing  the  applause.  And  so  it  might 
seem  advisable  to  establish  throughout  the  land 
a  number  of  experiment  stations  for  child  culture 
with  the  same  exact  methods  of  investigation  and 
issuing  bulletins  that  characterize  the  agricul- 
tural stations." 

A  CHILD  WELL  BORN  IS  TRAINED 
AT  BIRTH.— We  believe  that  we  have  made  it 


406  HOLM'S  RACE   ASSIMILATION 

clear  to  all  readers  that  the  loss  of  stamina,  if  any 
in  the  Negro  race,  is  not  due  to  the  amalgama- 
tion of  it  with  a  dissimilar  one,  but  to  the  evil 
causes  which  follow  in  the  wake  of  it.  We  have 
just  seen  that  "changing  conditions  change 
characters."  The  fact  that  marvelous  material 
improvements  and  multiplications  of  wealth 
have  been  wrought  by  industry  in  the  past  de- 
cade, did  not,  in  itself,  produce  the  insatiable 
cravings  of  an  abnormal  nature;  but  the  changed 
condition  wrought  an  untried  state  among  these 
whites,  and  changing  conditions  among  the  col- 
ored, of  whatever  nature,  produces  like  results. 
Rapid  changes  in  environments  among  people 
of  every  race  and  age  have  produced  abnormal 
characters  for  a  time,  being  thus  born.  In  some 
instances  whole  nations  have  gone  down,  who 
failed  to  regain  their  equilibrium  before  nat- 
ional corruption  ensued.  And  so  if  Professor 
McKeever  will  go  down  to  the  bottom,  the  very 
source  of  delinquency  in  his  students,  he  will  in- 
variably find  that  unnatural,  improper  sex-amal- 
gamation, is  the  first  cause  of  all  the  Thaw  char- 
acteristics and  delinquency  in  the  wide  world. 
How  else  could  two  children  of  the  same  par- 
ents, reared  in  exactly  the  same  environments, 
differ  so  widely  that  one  may  be  wholly  respect- 
able, industrious,  energetic — even  a  preacher  of 
the  Gospel — while  the  other  is  a  black  sheep,  a 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  407 

veritable  Thaw  character,  or  like  a  Thaw  vic- 
tim? Like  produces  like.  This  is  an  unchang- 
able  natural  law,  and  no  parents  can  cheat  or 
defraud  nature.  One  child  born  in  a  harmoni- 
ous love-state,  and  another  under  a  reversed  con- 


TEACHER 

^(^  Of  0v 
HER  RACE. 

dition,  cannot  be  alike;  and  no  training  in  the 
home,  or  any  other  kind  of  training,  can  make 
them  alike.  We,  of  course,  believe  in  giving  all 
children  a  thorough  home-training,  and  especi- 
ally in  harmony  with  phrenological  science,  if 
it  were  possible;  but  we  maintain  that  a  child 


408  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

rightly  born  is  already  trained  at  birth,  and  needs 
only  a  little  additional  cultivation  and  care,  like 
a  vigorous  plant,  to  make  it  thrive  and  mature 
beautifully.  We  believe  in  the  method  of  child 
culture  experiments  Professor  McKeever  advo- 
cates or  suggests ;  and  we  are  now  convinced  that 
it  would  do  a  vast  amount  of  good  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  human  race ;  but  we  also  believe 
that  the  source,  the  first  cause,  the  wrong  birth, 
should  especially  receive  the  attention  of  our 
government;  and  this  evil  should  be  eliminated 
by  it  as  far  as  possible,  among  both  white  and 
colored,  by  the  scientific  methods  we  advocate, 
and  by  a  thorough  educational  campaign,  such 
as  Professor  McKeever  suggests. 

A  MOTHER  IS  THE  PRE-NATAL 
KINDERGARTEN  TEACHER.— But  this 
is  terrible! 

Let  the  government  teach  us  how  to  conceive 
and  bear  better  children?  Why  not? 

Does  it  not  teach  us  how  to  improve  our  stock, 
our  farm  product  and  our  soil;  and  are  our  own 
offspring  of  less  importance  than  our  farms  and 
stock?  Should  not  self-improvement,  or  the  bet- 
terment of  mankind,  be  our  highest  aim  in  life? 
We  have  already  touched  upon  this  subject.  We 
will  add  that  the  right  conception  and  birth  of 
a  child,  of  whatever  color,  overshadows  and  out- 
weighs all  other  reforms  put  together;  and  that 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  409 

the  government  has  not  given  the  races  within 
our  borders  the  privilege  of  attaining  a  scientific 
knowledge  of  this  subject,  in  this  age  of  marvel- 
ous achievement,  is  a  moral  outrage  to  the  masses 
of  people  of  our  great  civilization.  When  every 
conceivable  kind  of  improvement  is  contemplated 
and  executed,  why  not  this?  Would  not  the  peo- 
ple pay  for  it  and  the  country  be  benefitted 
thereby? 

A  mother  should  not  only  be  in  a  quiet,  happy 
mood  during  pregnancy,  but  her  mind  should 
be  occupied  with  useful,  studious  and  delightful 
thoughts;  and  her  hands  with  such  labor  as  may 
be  congenial  to  her,  and  of  sufficient  importance 
to  occupy  her  entire  attention  when  thus  em- 
ployed. She  is  Nature's  kindergarten  teacher 
of  the  embryo  and  child  unborn — the  making  of 
a  man.  What  a  solemn  trust  hath  God  conferred 
upon  you?  O,  mother  of  the  human  family! 
Violate  this  sacred  trust,  and  the  verdict — guilty 
—is  written  upon  your  own  flesh  and  blood,  your 
own  darling  babe,  and  naught  on  earth  has  power 
to  erase  that  sin  which  you  taught  it,  which  you 
committed,  while  it  was  alone  with  you  in  the 
sanctuary  of  your  soul.  The  evil  thus  transmit- 
ted from  mother  to  child  is  monstrous! — terrible 
to  contemplate — it  baffles  human  understanding. 
Yet,  how  little  is  being  done  to  counterbalance 
the,  evil  thus  wrought? 


410  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

Prospective  mothers,  do  you  take  a  leap  into 
the  dark  as  regards  the  character  of  your  own 
future  child?  You  need  not.  You  can,  if  you 
will,  know  the  character,  the  future  profession, 
trade  or  occupation,  etc.,  of  your  unborn  child. 
You  can  predict  its  future  career  if  you  will. 
You  can  say  with  positive  knowledge: 
"This  my  child,  I  have  caused  to  be  born  thus, 
and  its  life-work  will  be  that;  the  other  one  I 
have  caused  to  be  born  thus,  and  its  life-work  and 
character  will  be  like  this,"  etc. 

But,  how? 

By  your  own  effort.  You  can  mould  the 
future  character  of  your  child  like  a  potter  his 
clay,  if  you  will  it.  But  you  must  positively  will 
it.  The  author  has  made  hundreds  of  observa- 
tions which  fully  confirm  this  fact;  and  others 
who  have  investigated  along  this  line  have  come 
to  like  conclusions.  To  illustrate,  we  will  give 
but  one  case  which  will  convey  to  you  the  im- 
portance and  truthfulness  of  our  statement,  es- 
pecially if  we  assure  you  that  it  is  but  a  common 
occurrence  we  have  met  with,  among  both  white 
and  colored,  in  our  many  years  of  observations : 
The  first  child,  a  boy  of  this  case,  was  more  like 
its  father  than  its  mother,  and  not  superior  to 
either.  The  next,  a  girl,  born  under  nearly  the 
same  conditions,  was  again  more  like  him  than 
her.  The  third,  again  a  boy,  was  unlike  the 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  411 

older  children  and  unlike  either  parent,  in  that 
its  upper  frontal  brain  lobes  were  more  de- 
veloped in  the  region  of  Causality  and  Compari- 
son, and  its  features  were  more  refined  and  the 
quality  of  its  brain  apparently  finer.  When  en- 
quiring the  cause  of  this  phenomenon  we,  of 
course,  were  as  usually  met  with  bland  igno- 
rance and  simple  curiosity.  But,  we  ask,  did  you 
not  read  or  study  something  before  this  child 
was  born;  just  think  and  see?  "Oh,  lordy,  yes," 
she  exclaimed,  "I  sure  is  Fs  readin  ebery  day 
and  studen  som  mo  in  de  night,  cause  I's  gowin 
to  be  edicated  like  all  de  good  culued  folks." 
Therein  lies  the  secret  of  mental  or  brain  de- 
velopment, and  the  unusual  brightness  of  some 
unpromising-looking  boys  and  girls  of  the  black, 
ignorant  class  of  Negroes.  This  poor,  simple- 
minded,  good  hearted  little  black  mother  was 
educating  her  unborn  babe,  unknown  to  herself, 
and  was  thus  unconsciously  preparing  it  for  a 
life  of  greater  service  and  more  efficient  useful- 
ness to  her  race.  The  influence  of  the  mind  over 
matter,  when  intelligently  directed,  is  all-power-, 
ful;  and  for  this  reason  should  Negro  mothers 
cultivate  and  use  this  wonderful  knowledge  for 
the  betterment  of  the  race.  Lazy, "shiftless 
mothers  cannot  thus  cultivate  their  children.  It 
takes  some  effort  and  intense  application  in  the 
direction  the  child  is  desired  to  be  developed. 


412  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

Whatever  trade  or  profession  the  child  is  to  ex- 
cel in,  must  be  taken  up  by  the  mother  and 
thoroughly  absorbed,  especially  during  the  later 
half  of  pregnancy,  or  the  effect  produced  will 
not  be  satisfactory.  And,  above  all,  the  moral 
nature  of  the  mother  must  be  trained  and  inten- 
sified. 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  413 


CHAPTER  XIX 

PSYCHIC  EVOLUTION,  OR  SOUL-LIFE  AND  THOUGHT 

FORCE 

SOUL-LIFE. — We  not  only  believe,  but  we 
know  that  if  there  is  any  soul-life  for  man,  that 
that  life  is,  through  Providence,  the  result  of 
man's  own  psychic  achievement.  Science  has  so 
far  failed  to  find  any  trace  of  a  heaven  or  a 
spirit-life,  save  the  one  that  man  has  created  for 
himself.  That  man  cannot  create  for  himself  a 
soul-life,  cannot  be  denied  by  either  theology  or 
science.  The  highest  theological  thought  has,  in 
fact,  supported  this  truth  in  late  years.  God, 
the  psychic  power  of  the  universe,  has  so  created 
man  that  soul-life  is  within  his  reach — a  part  of 
his  heritage,  if  he  wills  it. 

We  know  that  any  one  who  has  the  positive 
knowledge  within  himself  that  he  is  immortal, 
and  can  hold  that  thought,  has  the  key  to  heaven 
—a  spirit-life.  When  we  view  this  important 
subject  in  this  advanced  light,  we  have  a  far 
clearer  conception  of  soul-life  than  we  have  ever 
had  before;  and  this  fact  should  be  a  stimulant 
to  all  who  know,  to  develop  their  own  spiritual 
selves. 

We  speak  as  a  scientist,  not  as  a  theologian. 


414  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

It  is  evident  that  all  men  do  not  possess  a  soul- 
life.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  to  psychologists 
that  "AS  A  MAN  THINKETH  IN  HIS  HEART  SO  IS 
HE." 

It  is  your  belief  that  holds  you,  and  you  not 
your  belief.  It  is  your  belief  that  makes  you 
what  you  are.  It  is  your  belief  that  determines 
the  shape  of  your  head  to  a  marked  extent,  and 
also  the  shape  of  your  body.  It  causes  your  face 
to  shine  with  intelligence,  morality,  benevolence 
and  spirituality,  if  your  intellectual,  moral  and 
spiritual  faculties  in  the  brain  have  been  culti- 
vated. On  the  other  hand  it  stamps  upon  the 
face  cruelty,  deceitfulness,  licentiousness  and 
murder. 

Those  of  us  who  know  can  read  all  men  like 
an  open  book,  and  never  fail  to  detect  their 
dominant  beliefs. 

We  believe  that  the  time  will  come  when  all 
children  at  our  public  schools  may  be  able  to 
obtain  a  scientific  knowledge  of  human  nature. 
We  believe  that  the  time  will  come  when  all  may 
understand  and  know  their  fellow  men. 
•'  Let  us  draw  your  thoughts  to  the  Invisible 
Power  which  has  complete  control  of  all  things. 
That  part  of  you  which  is  variously  called  In- 
telligence, Consciousness,  Mind,  Soul,  Spirit, 
Ego,  Divine  Principle,  etc.  That  part  of  you 
which  no  other  animal  has  so  fully  developed, 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  415 

is  the  part  of  you  which  can  make  you  immortal, 
which  can  make  you  an  independent,  conscious 
spirit-being,  if  you  will  it;  which  can  make  you 
a  god,  a  creator,  all-powerful,  if  you  will  it. 

For  advocating  this  tremendous  truth  the 
Nazarene  philosopher  was  crucified  by  the  mate- 
rialistic Jews  who  believed  in  a  materialistic 
god. 

We  could  prove  from  a  scriptural  standpoint 
that  our  position  is  a  true  one;  but  we  are  not 
trying  to  prove  any  thing  by  the  Bible  or  any 
other  book,  but  from  experience.  But  in  regard 
to  the  teachings  of  Christ  we  will  say  that  He 
taught  that  He  was  in  the  Father,  and  that  by 
father  He  meant  Ruler,  Creator,  God,  etc.,  and 
that  the  Father  was  in  Him,  and  that  He  and  the 
Father  were  united  or  one.  He  taught  that  the 
Creative  Life  was  in  Him,  and  that  He  could 
create  or  destroy,  the  very  thing  we  are  trying 
to  bring  out — viz.,  that  the  power  to  create  or 
destroy  is  in  man,  and  that  no  man  is  finished 
until  he  has  created  within  himself  the  charac- 
ter of  a  s'oul-life. 

The  power  to  create  a  soul-life  is  in  all  men, 
but  a  knowledge  of  this  power  is  not  always 
present.  John  Wesley,  George  Whitfield,  and 
many  others  had  remarkable  spiritual  faculties, 
still  it  was  quite  late  in  their  lives  before  they  re- 
ceived a  positive  knowledge  of  soul-life. 


416  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

NO  SOUL-LIFE.— The  statement  of  Christ 
that  the  kingdom  of  God  (of  life)  is  within  us, 
is  a  scientific  fact.  He  often  complained  of  the 
materialistic  tendencies  of  his  day.  He  often 
said,  they  will  not  come  to  me,  they  will  not  hear 
me,  that  they  may  have  life — spirit-life,  soul- 
life,  immortality. 

As  long  as  a  man  is  not  in  possession  of  the 
positive  knowledge  of  soul-life,  so  long  does  he 
exist  on  the  animal  plane  of  life;  so  long  is  he  a 
part  of  the  animal  world,  where  we  have  no  evi- 
dence of  a  soul-life,  save  of  the  reincarnation 
order. 

It  is  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  the  Nazarene, 
contrary  to  a  fixed  psychic  law  of  life  to  believe 
that  a  man,  civilized  or  savage,  will  enter  a 
spirit-life  when  he  dies,  in  direct  opposition  to 
his  life  and  controlling  beliefs. 

Every  man  is  transplanted  in  the  act  of  pro- 
creation, reappearing  in  his  offspring,  until  he 
has  reached  a  stage  in  his  existence  when  his 
soul-life  is  developed,  at  which  time  he  passes 
out  of  the  generative  into  the  regenerative  or 
spirit-life.  Then,  and  not  until  then,  is  a  man 
finished — the  very  image  of  his  maker — an  im- 
mortal spirit-being,  obtained  through  the  perfect 
model  or  ideal — Christ. 

To  know  God,  to  know  the  Creative  Power  of 
the  universe,  is  soul-life  in  the  spirit-world. 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  417 

THE  REALIZATION  AND  SENSING  OF  IMMOR- 
TALITY IS  IMMORTALITY.  You  can  no  more 
send  the  soul  of  a  man  to  heaven,  who 
does  not  believe  in  a  heaven,  and  has  no 
perception  of  one,  than  you  can  send  a 
goose  into  a  f  ryingpan,  that  does  not  believe  in  a 
roast.  You  can  no  more  send  the  soul  of  a  man 
to  heaven,  who  does  not  believe  in  a  soul  or 
heaven,  than  you  can  make  an  ass  trot  up  hill 
that  has  a  strong  inclination  to  stay  down.  You 
cannot  send  a  thing  into  spirit-life  that  does  not 
exist,  or  that  is  not  finished  for  a  spiritual  exist- 
ence. You  can  project  a  shaft  of  light  into  dark- 
ness, but  you  cannot  project  darkness  into  light. 
HIGHLY  DEVELOPED  SOUL-LIFE.- 
Permit  us  to  draw  the  physical  likeness  of  a 
highly  developed  soul-life.  The  top-head  is 
high  and  fully  developed.  He  feels  through 
every  fibre  of  his  physical  being  that  he  is  spirit. 
He  has  developed  a  fixed  sense.  He  is  not  only 
conscious  of  immortality,  but  he  is  sometimes 
clairvoyant.  He  is  one  of  a  class  who  some- 
times puzzles  psychic  scientists  with  unexplain- 
able  phenomenon.  There  is  generally  a  vast  dif- 
ference between  him  and  professional  spirit- 
mediums.  He  is  a  living  fact.  He  does  not  per- 
form wonderful  slate  writing  miracles,  or  any 
other  marvelous  spirit  feats.  He  may  believe 
in  professional  spirit  mediums  and  be  deceived 

27 


418 


HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 


BISHOP  R. 

Founder  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He 
had  a  wonderful  development  of  spirituality,  veneration  and  hope 
— a  beautiful,  sensitive  nature. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


419 


by  them,  especially  if  he  be  weak  in  the  percep- 
tive faculties ;  but  Conscientiousness  is  too  strong 
in  him,  and  Secretiveness  and  the  other  selfish 
mental  faculties  are  too  weakly  represented  in 
his  brain  to  allow  him  to  pose  as  a  fraud,  or  de- 
ceive people  in  any  way.  Some  brains  may  be 
large,  but  they  are  as  coarse  as  sawdust;  his 

JMECAT(VEL 

SPIRITUALITY, 

iCVENERATION. 
•/"F'^LAffifiA. 


A  LOW-CLASS    EAST   AFRICAN  SAVAGE. 
(From  a  photograph.) 

In  this  animal-man  the  higher  or  transcendental  brain  organs, 
through  which  veneration  and  spirituality  act,  are  almost  absent. 
The  light  outline  shows  his  profile,  the  dotted  line  shows 
difference  between  the  cranium  development  of  Bishop  James 
Varick  and  this  savage.  This  man  needs  a  great  deal  of  patient 
training  in  order  to  develop  a  conscious  soul-life. 


430 


HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 


brain  is  as  fine  as  silk.  It  is  reported  that  while 
John  Wesley  was  in  a  mob  at  one  time,  a  man 
raised  his  arm  to  strike  him,  but  suddenly 
dropped  it  and  stroked  his  head,  saying,  "What 
soft  hair  he  has!"  Wesley  was  one  of  those  who 
had  a  remarkable  fine  brain,  through  which  his 
mind  could  express  itself  with  marked  results, 
but  Swedenburg's  was  the  greatest  we  know  of. 


BISHOP  JAMES  VARICK. 

Founder  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church. 
Large  brain,  practical  thinker,  a  leader  of  men.  He  had  a  stub- 
born, determined  nature,  toned  down  by  large  human  nature, 
benevolence,  spirituality  and  veneration. 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  421 

We  wish  to  be  plainly  understood.  Some  are 
better  developed  than  others  from  childhood, 
but  all  who  have  ever  achieved  any  degree  of 
power,  have  passed  through  a  painful  process  of 
evolution. 

We  give  you  the  positive  assurance  that  you 
have  the  power  within  yourself  to  develop  the 
body  in  which  you  live,  and  shape  it,  and  ex- 
press yourself  through  it,  and  through  all  mate- 
rial things  about  you,  as  you  please. 

You  can  create  within  yourself  any  belief  you 
please;  and  it  is  your  dominant  belief  that 
makes  you  what  you  are. 

You  should  shape  your  own  destiny  and  not  be 
a  creature  of  circumstances.  If  you  do  not  know 
yourself,  but  carelessly  drift  along  in  the  current 
of  circumstances,  you  will  retain  the  undesir- 
able position  of  a  "negative,"  and  you  will  never 
become  the  moulder  of  society,  a  captain  of  in- 
dustry, the  governor  of  a  people,  or  any  other 
positive  pole. 

THE  MAN  WHO  FEELS  ALL  IS  MAT- 
TER.— Now,  we  shall  draw  the  outline  of  a 
man  who  feels  through  his  whole  being  that  "all 
is  matter."  His  head  is  low  and  broad.  He  is 
intensely  materialistic. 

Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  says :  "It  is  such  a  sad 
thing  to  be  born  a  sneaking  fellow,  so  much  worse 
than  to  inherit  a  humpback  or  a  couple  of  club 


422  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

feet,  that  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  we  ought  to  love 
the  crippled  souls,  if  I  may  use  this  expression, 
with  a  certain  tenderness  we  need  not  waste  on 
noble  natures.  One  who  is  born  with  such  con- 
genital incapacity  that  nothing  can  make  a  gen- 
tleman of  him  is  entitled  not  to  our  wrath,  but 
to  our  profoundest  sympathy." 

It  is  just  possible  for  him  to  grasp  the  idea  of 
spiritual  and  moral  laws.  His  moral  and  spirit- 
ual faculties  are  all  negative.  His  selfish  fac- 
ulties are  all  highly  developed.  He  enjoys  a 
prize-fight,  a  cock-fight  and  every  other  kind  of 
a  fight.  He  lives  on  the  animal  plane  of  life. 
If  you  put  any  trust  in  him  he  is  likely,  to  take 
advantage  of  you.  He  is  a  monster  when 
aroused  and  capable  of  committing  any  deed. 
He  is  a  licentious  brute,  who  has  not  yet  created 
within  himself  the  possibility  of  a  soul-life.  He 
has  talents,  but  they  are  of  a  cunning,  selfish 
nature,  and  not  productive  of  soul-life.  Ama- 
tiveness  may  cause  him  to  be  very  pleasing  at 
times,  especially  to  ladies,  but  we  pity  any 
woman  who  ever  comes  within  the  circle  of  his 
influence  or  force,  and  vice  versa.  He  is  void  of 
virtue  and  animal-like. 

WE  MAY  CHANGE  IF  WE  WILL.— 
From  this  most  unfortunate  state  of  mind  up  to 
the  highest  we  find  a  great  variety  of  characters, 
always  depending  upon  the  degree  of  develop- 


OR   THE    FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  423 

ment  in  the  brain  of  the  forty-two  faculties  of 
which  the  Mind  is  composed. 

Those  faculties  of  the  Mind  which  are  most 
highly  developed  are  the  ones  that  determine 
the  man's  character,  the  shape  of  his  head,  his 
face  and  body.  But  if  you  have  knowledge  of 
yourself,  you  will  realize  the  fact  that  your  phy- 
sical brain  is  as  plastic  as  clay  in  a  potter's  hands, 
and  that  you  can  shape  it,  and  create  within  it 
the  belief  essential  to  a  soul-life,  and  all  other 
desirable  qualities,  if  you  positively  will  it.  You 
have  within  you  the  power  to  change  the  shape 
of  your  cranium,  the  shape  of  your  face  and  the 
shape  of  your  whole  physical  being,  and  express 
yourself  through  it  as  you  please.  As  we  state 
elsewhere,  a  criminal  or  unfortunately  de- 
veloped man  cannot  be  trained  to  overcome  self, 
until  he  has  knowledge  of  the  power  within  and 
wills  it. 

We  shall  now  make  a  statement  relative  to 
what  has  already  been  said,  and  then  we  shall 
show  you  the  truth  of  it: 

WE  RECEIVE  AS  MUCH  AS  WE  BE- 
LIEVE.— "Whatsoever  you  ask,  believing  that 
you  will  receive  it,  you  have  it." 

This  psychic  law  never  fails  to  respond  just 
as  far  as  we  comply  with  its  conditions.  If  you 
will  look  about  you  with  your  eye  of  understand- 
ing, you  will  see  the  operation  of  this  law  on 


424  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

every  hand.  There  is  nothing  on  earth  that  man 
has  ever  done,  that  is  not  the  result  of  the  opera- 
tion of  this  psychic  law. 

There  is  nothing,  no  matter  how  easy  it  may 
be,  that  a  man  can  do,  unless  he  believes  that  he 
can  do  it.  And  it  is  often  the  case  that  a  man 
does  not  know  how  to  create  a  belief  in  himself 
to  do  a  certain  thing,  and  consequently  cannot 
do  it.  This  is  commonly  known  as  failure — 
failure  to  do  a  certain  thing  undertaken.  Many 
men  fail  in  everything  they  undertake  to  do. 
They  never  succeed.  They  are  sick.  It's  a  dis- 
ease. They  are  deficient  in  certain  elementary 
qualities  of  the  mind.  They  ought  to  be  treated 
for  success.  They  could  make  a  success  in  their 
right  calling  in  life,  if  they  knew  themselves  and 
could  create  the  necessary  belief  in  themselves 
essential  to  success.  It  is  true,  some  succeed  in 
what  they  do,  without  knowing  why,  but  every 
one  of  them  has  unconsciously  created  the  thing 
essential  to  success.  The  man  who  knows  him- 
self, and  is  conscious  of  the  power  within  him, 
and  knows  how  to  use  it,  is  sure  of  success,  while 
the  other  fellow  gropes  about  in  the  dark,  know- 
ing not  "whence  he  cometh  or  whither  he  goeth." 
And  the  same  thing  is  true  in  regard  to  soul-life. 
A  man  may  unconsciously  cultivate  a  soul-life 
for  himself,  and  get  to  heaven  without  knowing 
how  he  got  there,  and  walk  the  golden  streets 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  425 

with  his  boots  on,  and  eat  the  fruit  of  life  with 
his  smutty  mouth  and  dirty  face,  but  everything 
is  against  him — the  whole  world  of  darkness, 
ignorance,  sin  and  wrong  beliefs — and  nothing 
is  for  him  to  which  he  can  cling,  as  long  as  he  is 
unconscious  of  the  Creative  Power  within  him- 
self, as  long  as  he  is  not  "Born  of  the  spirit." 

The  realization  and  sensing  of  immortality  is 
immortality. 

MATERIAL  EVIDENCE  ILLUS- 
TRATES.— But  let  us  not*  depart  from  the 
thought  we  hold  at  present.  Let  us  look  at  the 
material  evidence  for  a  few  moments,  that  we 
may  prove,  beyond  the  least  shadow  of  doubt, 
the  truth  of  our  position. 

There  was  no  one  who  believed  that  the  Alps 
in  Switzerland  could  be  crossed  by  rail,  until  the 
germ  of  faith  was  generated  in  an  engineer's 
mind,  and  behold!  it  was  done.  There  was  no 
one  who  believed  that  steam  navigation  could 
be  employed  to  any  great  extent  until  Robert 
Fulton,  that  marvelous  inventive  mind  demon- 
strated in  1803  on  the  Seine,  and  in  1807  on  the 
Hudson,  that  it  could  be  done.  The  wonder- 
ful progress  made  in  this  direction  in  a  century 
borders  the  miraculous.  The  Atlantic  Liner 
Mauretania,  the  queen  of  the  seas,  now  makes 
the  transatlantic  trip  in  four  days  and  seventeen 
hours;  an  average  speed  of  25.55  knqts  per  hour,- 


426  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

against  the  heavy  winter  sea,  and  it  is  believed 
that  this  even  can  be  excelled.  To  do  this  she 
converts  1,000  tons  of  coal  a  day  into  ashes.  The 
coal  put  on  board  forgone  trip  requires  twenty- 
two  coal  trains  of  thirty  trucks  each,  if  each  truck 
carries  ten  tons.  She  can  accommodate  500  first- 
class  passengers,  500  second-class  and  1,300 
third-class.  To  sail  the  ship  and  look  after  the 
various  wants  of  the  ocean  voyagers  there  are 
seventy  officers  and  men  in  the  sailing  depart- 
ment, 350  stewards  and  fifty  cooks,  390  in  the 
engineer's  department,  besides  the  band  and  a 
good  sized  company  of  telephone  and  telegraph 
operators,  printers  for  a  daily  newspaper  and 
various  attendants — a  total  of  from  800  to  900 
men  makes  up  the  crew — equal  to  an  average 
regiment  of  infantry. 

Who  was  there  in  the  wide  world  with  the 
faintest  belief  that  any  other  communication 
could  ever  be  established  between  this  country 
and  Europe  than  by  the  slow-going  ships,  before 
Cyrus  W.  Field  stepped  upon  the  arena  and 
said,  "It  can  be  done?"  All  the  mountains  of 
difficulties  were  swept  aside,  and  today  that  be- 
lief stands  a  grand  monument  to  preceding  ages, 
of  the  marvelous  power  of  the  mind  over  mat- 
ter. And  yet  again  has  loomed  up  before  us  an- 
other belief,  in  the  same  direction,  which  was 
born  and  nursed  in  the  mind  of  Marconi  and 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  427 

others  who  have  since  demonstrated  before  all 
men,  that  it  is  possible  to  communicate  with  the 
world,  without  wire  or  cable,  by  electricity. 

Electricity  was  very  little  thought  of  until 
Prof.  Morse  began  to  use  it  as  a  telegraphic 
medium,  and  after  that  wonderful  invention  it 
was  thought  to  have  reached  its  highest  useful- 
ness, and  nothing  more  was  done.  But  as  time 
went  on  there  appeared  upon  the  scene  Thomas 
Edison.  In  that  mind  began  to  grow  a  belief  in 
the  future  of  electricity  that  baffles  all  descrip- 
tion. Mr.  Edison  actually  dared  to  believe  in 
greater  possibilities  than  have  ever  been  achieved 
by  mortal  man,  and  today  we  have  most  every 
convenience  we  can  think  of  coming  from  this 
unseen  force. 

MAN  IS  A  CONSCIOUS  AND  CREA- 
TIVE BEING.— And  thus  we  could  follow 
up  achievement  after  achievement,  discovery 
after  discovery,  invention  after  invention,  until 
we  have  circumscribed  the  whole  territory  of 
man's  activities,  from  a  wooden  plow  to  a  flying 
machine  and  a  visit  to  the  North  Pole,  and  still 
not  find  a  single  instance  in  which  man  has  done 
anything  that  was  not  the  result  of  the  Creative 
Propensity  of  his  being.  And  we  wish  to  reit- 
erate the  fact,  that  Man  is  the  only  being  on 
earth  who  has  the  full  consciousness  of  life,  and 
the  power  to  create  whatsoever  he  desires. 


428  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

< 

"But,"  you  may  ask  here,  "are  there  not  lim- 
its?" We  answer,  certainly  there  are.  Man's 
powers  like  all  other  things  are  limited.  There 
never  was  a  beginning  without  an  end,  but  who 
has  ever  measured  the  creative  power  of  man 
from  his  beginning  to  his  end. 

Who  has  ever  measured  God  from  His  be- 
ginning to  His  end? 

God  and  man  are  one,  IF  MAN  WILLS  IT. 

Some  day  all  men  will  learn  the  highest  law 
of  their  being — the  power  to  create  and  the 
power  to  destroy. 

PARENTS  SHAPE  THE  SOUL  OF 
THEIR  CHILD.— On  the  other  hand  it  has 
been  argued  by  those  who  believe  in  universal 
salvation — who  believe  that  all  men  have  spirit- 
life  and  are  either  saved  or  unsaved — that  if  our 
position  is  a  true  one,  all  irresponsible  children 
who  die  are  without  conscious  soul-life,  and  con- 
sequently lost.  "And,"  they  say,  "Jesus  said,  'Of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven.' '  A  lack  of 
knowledge  of  this  psychic  law  has  caused  man 
to  stumble  and  fall  into  all  kinds  of  errors  on  his 
long,  painful  march  from  the  swamps  of  the  ani- 
mal life,  to  the  mountain  top  of  a  conscious,  fin- 
ished soul. 

Let  us  mark  closely  what  recent  psychological 
research  has  brought  to  light.  We  have  already 
touched  upon  this  in  a  former  chapter. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  429 

We  find  that  parents  have  within  their  reach 
the  power  to  shape  the  destiny  of  their  offspring. 

We  find  that  the  father  and  mother  can  con- 
ceive and  mould  the  soul  of  their  unborn  child  as 
they  please,  shaping  it  either  in  purity  and  im- 
mortality, or  in  depravity  and  degradation. 

O  man!  O  woman!  you  hold  the  destiny  of 
your  child  in  your  hand.  You  can  bring  your 
babe  before  the  throne  of  the  Immortal  to  be 
blest,  or  cast  it  into  the  dark  pit  of  spiritual  un- 
consciousness, as  you  please  or  will. 

You  have  within  you  the  power  to  curse,  the 
power  to  create,  the  power  to  bless,  and  the 
power  to  destroy. 

Man  has  no  more  right  to  populate  this  beau- 
tiful world  with  drunkards,  idiots,  outlaws  and 
vagabonds,  than  he  has  to  kill  his  neighbor  or 
curse  his  God. 

The  beautiful  practice  of  dedicating  infants 
to  God,  the  Father  of  all,  has  a  far  greater  sig- 
nificance to  us,  since  it  has  proven  of  scientific 
importance,  than  it  has  ever  had  before. 

Procreation  with  no  other  object  than  the  grat- 
ification of  lust,  is  the  crowning  curse  of  race 
mixing  and  modern  civilization. 

The  libertinism  and  gross  licentiousness  of  to- 
day in  both  races,  is  a  reproach  to  all  existing 
institutions  in  America. 

Let  the  union  of  two  souls  of  any  two  races 


430  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

enter  the  sanctuary  of  the  immortal-self,  and  the 
child — the  man  of  the  future — be  he  considered 
mixed  or  pure,  when  he  drops  the  body  of  clay, 
will  be  positive  of  a  conscious,  independent 
spirit  state. 

The  gross  error  and  superstition  of  the  pastr 
born  in  the  mental  darkness  of  man's  early  morn- 
ing is  fast  breaking  away,  and  the  golden  ray  of 
a  noonday  sun  is  penetrating  to  the  quick  in  all 
its  infinite  glory,  enlightening  and  broadening 
his  vision,  leading  up,  and  up,  to  a  full  realiza- 
tion of  a  pure,  beautiful,  perfect,  finished,  con- 
scious soul-life. 

In  procreation  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  phy- 
sical man  and  woman  must  unite  in  the  produc- 
tion of  a  God-child — a  child  with  a  perfect  body 
as  well  as  a  developed  soul-life. 

Thus,  and  thus  alone,  can  be  created  a  "New 
heaven  and  a  new  earth"  in  which  immortal 
souls  can  live  and  commune  with  the  Father  of 
all,  in  love  and  harmony,  in  peace  and  happiness, 
above  race,  above  hatred,  above  the  crime  of 
war. 

A  UNION  OF  THOUGHT-FORCES 
IS  IRRESISTIBLE.— The  greatest  and  wisest 
philosopher  the  world  has  ever  known  once 
asked,  "Where  is  your  faith?"  (Luke.  8,  25). 

A  union  of  thought-force  or  faith  has  always 
proved  irresistible.  The  world,  with  all  its  wis- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  431 

dom  today,  has  not  yet  fully  discovered  the  ter- 
rible potency  of  combined  thought-force.  Here- 
in lies  the  greatest  weakness  of  the  Negro 
race  today.  This  fact  we  wish  to  impress  especi- 
ally upon  our  colored  readers  in  these  closing 
remarks.  The  Afro-American  and  Colored  Cau- 
casian does  not  exercise  sufficient  combined 
thought-force  to  bring  about  results  most  desir- 
able, with  his  white  co-workers.  There  are  too 
many  leading  men  of  fine  education  and  broad 
culture  in  the  race  who  make  actual  confessions 
to  the  dominant  forces  that  they  are  inferior  be- 
ings; and  others  who  do  not  do  this  retire  with 
all  their  acquired  and  God-given  talents  into  a 
gloomy,  pessimistic  atmosphere. 

Now,  whatsoever  a  union  of  thought-force 
DEMANDS,  that  shall  come  to  pass.  This  fact 
was  fully  illustrated  in  the  emancipation  move- 
ment. All  the  power  of  thought  of  a  handful  of 
men  and  women  was  centered  upon  the  demand 
that  "slavery  shall  be  abolished,"  and  the  civil- 
ized world  echoed  in  a  hypnotic  sleep — "slavery 
shall  be  abolished,"  and  it  was  abolished. 

We  received  a  letter  from  a  man  of  learning 
and  great  mental  capacity,  of  African  descent, 
as  white  as  any  Caucasian.  We  quote  him  here, 
as  it  bears  upon  the  thought  we  hold.  He  says 
in  part:  "You  see  that  nothing  we  can  propose 
or  do  will  avail  anything  unless  the  white  race 


432  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

approves.  Now  the  white  race  is  a  great  racer 
and  they  have  mastered  a  larger  body  of  truth 
than  any  other  race.  But  as  a  race  they  have 
'willed  on  the  race  question  that  they  will  be 
utterly  inaccessible  to  any  plea  or  argument  that 
conflicts  with  their  settled  determination  on  the 
race  question.  We  can  find  an  easy  solution  for 
this  question  in  the  Bible,  but  even  the  Bible  is 
ruled  out  where  it  comes  into  conflict  with  this 
settled  determination.  If  the  Bible  and  free 
speech  could  be  tolerated  we  could  easily  find 
"the  way  out,"  but  with  these  barred  it  is  use- 
less to  speak  at  all.  *  *  *  But  for  this 
"settled  determination"  not  to  follow  or  tolerate 
truth  except  so  far,  this  question  could  be  easily 
solved,  as  have  been  all  the  great  questions  of 
human  progress  during  the  centuries." 

A  great  plutocratic  politician  once  said,  "The 
people  be  damned,"  when  speaking  of  their 
rights,  and  this  is  equally  appliable  to  this 
"settled  determination"  of  which  our  corre- 
spondent speaks.  Such  "settled  determination" 
is  doomed  as  soon  as  an  irresistible  union  of 
thought-force  is  centered  upon  the  prevalent 
wrongs  and  sears  them  with  the  eternal  Spirit 
of  Truth. 

This  "settled  determination"  by  the  white  race 
in  regard  to  the  race  question,  is  but  a  psychic 
disorder  as  we  say  elsewhere.  Our  correspond- 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  433 

ent,  whom  we  quote,  says  that  "the  white  race 
has  mastered  a  larger  body  of  truth  than  any 
other  race."  While  it  has  done  this  it  has  not  yet 
received  sufficient  psychic  enlightenment,  or 
"Spirit  of  Truth,"  to  be  healed  of  this  serious 
mental  disorder,  and  subjugate  the  selfish,  ani- 
mal propensity. 

This  "settled  determination"  of  the  white  race 
is  based  upon  the  selfish  animal  nature  in  man, 
and  therefore  cannot  endure  the  glare  of  science 
or  exact  reasoning.  The  animal  nature  in  man 
cannot  reason,  and  consequently  cannot  discern 
right  from  wrong.  It  has  no  more  regard  for 
the  Christian  religion  or  the  truth  the  Bible  con- 
tains than  a  cow,  horse  or  dog. 

It  is  the  selfish  animal  in  the  white  man  that 
will  cause  him  to  disfranchise  his  own  son,  and 
curse  his  own  daughter,  and  ignore  their  mother, 
because  of  color.  This  same  selfish  propensity 
has  caused  Mr.  Tillman  to  say  that  he  will  not 
allow  the  heel  of  the  Negro  on  his  neck;  and 
has  caused  Vardaman  to  say  that  the  "saddle 
horse  at  Tuskegee  does  not  know  as  much  about 
our  form  of  government  as  a  white  man  from 
the  back  woods  who  cannot  read  or  write." 

This  same  selfish  beast  propensity  causes  an 
irresponsible  populace  in  this  country  to  snub, 
belittle  and  damn  the  people  of  color;  it  causes 
all  the  mob  violence  and  lynching  and  deprives 
the  Negro  of  his  rights  as  a  citizen, 

28 


434 

This  lower  element  in  human  nature  is  an  ele- 
ment of  cowardice  when  it  faces  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  It  has  caused  all  wars  and  blood- 
shed; it  has  caused  one  race  to  enslave  another; 
it  rules  by  physical  force  and  not  by  love  or  rea- 
son; but  in  every  age  of  the  world's  history  it 
has  cowered  in  the  dust  when  the  spiritual  ele- 
ment in  human  nature  has  exerted  itself  in  a 
union  of  thought-force,  in  the  presentation  of 
truth  and  justice. 

Thought  takes  form  in  action.  We  receive  as 
much  as  we  believe.  Hammer  a  truth  into  a 
people  by  persistent  repetition  and  that  truth 
will  take  form  in  action.  The  psychic  law  that 
a  "little  leaven  will  leaven  the  whole  lump"  will 
endure  the  ages  until  time  is  no  more.  A  truth, 
though  it  be  regarded  as  small  as  a  mustard  seed, 
when  planted  will  grow  and  become  a  tree  so  the 
birds  of  the  air  (the  little  children  at  the 
mother's  knee)  may  recognize  it  and  roost 
therein. 

THE  WAY   OUT   SUMMED   UP.— AN 

OPEN,  UNPREJUDICED  INTERMARRIAGE  UNION, 
SCIENTIFIC  CARE  OF  THE  CRIMINAL  CLASS  OF 
BOTH  RACES,  WITH  A  NATURAL,  MODULATED  SEPA- 
RATION OF  THE  RACES,  WITHOUT  ANY  STATE  IN- 
TERFERENCE, JUST  AS  THE  CONSCIENCE  AND 
RELIGIOUS  CONVICTIONS  MAY  DICTATE  TO  THE 
MEN  AND  WOMEN  OF  A  FREE  COUNTRY,  AND  AN 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  435 

EDUCATION  ON  THE  BROAD  BASIS  OF  UNIVERSAL 
BROTHERHOOD — THESE  ARE  THE  ESSENTIALS  IN 
OVERCOMING  CLANNISHNESS  AND  COLOR  LINES 
AND  IN  ESTABLISHING  A  UNITED  PEOPLE  IN  THESE 
UNITED  STATES. 


436  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

RESUME 

INTRODUCTION 

The  following  writers  scarcely  need  an  intro- 
duction. They  have  all  made  their  mark  in  the 
upbuilding  of  their  race,  some  of  them  attaining 
international  reputation.  We  have  spared 
neither  time  nor  expense  in  selecting  them  for 
this  book,  as  to  differences  in  age,  the  amount  of 
Negro  blood,  and  other  striking  physical  and 
mental  contrasts. 

The  student  of  human  nature  will  find  in  them 
a  variety  in  thought  and  mental  make-up,  both 
pleasing  and  profitable  to  pursue.  They  touch 
upon  nearly  every  subject  we  discuss  in  this 
work. 

Beginning  with  the  ripe,  scholarly  minister, 
Rev.  John  H.  White,  D.  D.,  whose  essay  corre- 
sponds with  our  first  chapter.  Next  comes  Dr. 
James  Shepard  on  "Prejudice,"  followed  by  an 
"Optimistic  View,"  by  a  not  less  cultured  gentle- 
man, Prof.  Davis,  very  different  in  physical 
and  mental  characteristics.  Then  comes  an  in- 
teresting paper,  giving  a  general  survey,  by  Prof. 
William  Pickens,  the  rising  young  linguist,  un- 
like either  of  the  preceding  writers.  Without 
either  writer  knowing  what  the  next  one  will 
say,  or  who  the  next  one  will  be,  James  E.  Me- 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  437 

Girt,  the  magazine  editor  and  writer  on 
economy,  picks  up  a  thread  where  Prof.  Pick- 
ens  drops  it,  and  says  just  what  the  reader  would 
expect  him  to  say  to  complete  an  argument. 

No  one  will  fail  to  note  the  next  writer,  who 
says  just  what  he  wants  to  say  without  "beating 
about  the  bush" — Bishop  Alexander  Walters, 
the  fearless  soldier  of  truth  and  justice,  the 
recognized  leader  of  the  Afro-American  people. 
The  little  leaven  he  puts  into  his  paper  is  so 
powerful,  it  leavens  a  whole  lump  of  readers. 
And  right  at  his  heels  comes  a  little  brown 
woman,  in  the  person  of  Anna  D.  Borden,  a  fear- 
less and  outspoken  woman  of  the  Negro  race. 
Though  small  and  delicate  physically,  she  is  a 
veritable  bundle  of  energy,  surpassing  nearly 
every  other  woman  who  has  ever  stood  for  the 
uplift  and  liberty  of  womanhood.  Following 
this  lady  comes  Sophia  Cox  Johnson,  giving  a 
graphic  description  of  how  the  Negro  woman 
is  advancing  right  in  the  heart  of  the  Black  Belt. 

Next  we  meet  with  a  pleasant  surprise  in  the 
department  of  logical  reasoning,  flowing  from 
the  magnetic  pen  of  that  able,  fascinating,  force- 
ful writer  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church,  Bishop 
J.  W.  Smith.  No  man  or  woman,  with  any  men- 
tal capacity  whatever,  can  escape  this  writer, 
without  being  seriously  impressed  with  the 
truth  of  his  arguments. 


438  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

Following  Bishop  Smith  we  meet  with  an- 
other writer  of  natural  ability,  Rev.  J.  W.  Wood, 
whose  wonderful  oratory  is  heard  in  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  cultured  churches  on  the  Gulf 
coast,  which  he  is  pastoring  at  the  present  time. 
His  view  of  the  race  question  is  in  harmony  with 
our  idea  of  human  evolution.  He  has  had 
broad  experience  both  North  and  South,  and  he 
testifies  to  the  fact,  we  so  often  reiterate  in  this 
book,  that  the  cultured  and  educated  of  both 
races,  and  not  the  lower  element,  will  eventually 
bring  about  social  equality  between  the  races. 

J.J.  H. 


THE  FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE  HAMITIC 
OR  NEGRO  RACE  IN  HISTORY 

BY  JOHN  H.  WHITE,  D.  D. 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

A  certain  writer  said  "That  the  best  evidence 
of  a  race's  being  on  earth  is  the  mark  left  behind 
in  the  wake  of  its  tread."  Historians  differ  as  to 
the  origin  of  the  Negro  or  Black  Race,  that  is, 
the  modern  historians  of  the  American  and  Eng- 
lish, and,  to  some  extent,  the  German  schools; 
but  we  leave  them  with  profound  pity  to  their 


JOHN  H.  WHITE,    D.   D. 
Colored  Caucasian. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  439 

racial  prejudice,  and  turn  to  the  oldest  history 
that  the  world  knows,  the  Bible,  from  which  we 
read  the  historical  account,  the  origin  of  the 
Black  Race  in  Genesis,  tenth  chapter,  sixth  to 
twentieth  verses.  I  presume  that  Moses,  or  the 
compiler  of  this  historical  account,  knew  the 
ethnological  distinctions,  and  racial  divisions  of 
the  descendants  of  Shem,  Ham  and  Japhet,  I 
suppose  the  ancient  Greek  historians,  authors, 
philosophers,  and  travelers,  who  were  deeply 
interested  in  Egypt,  were  proud  to  ascribe  to 
that  country  their  origin  and  the  source  from 
which  they  derived  their  religion  and  art.  I 
presume  that  Herodotus,  Diodorus,  Josephus 
and  Strabo,  and,  in  fact,  the  best  Greek  author- 
ities and  historians,  the  best  and  most  reliable 
Latin,  Babylonian  and  Egyptian  historians,  with 
Rollins  and  other  impartial  and  unprejudiced 
writers  among  the  moderns,  knew  more  as  to  the 
ethnology  of  the  Hamitic  or  Negro  race,  than 
all  the  critics  and  enemies  of  the  black  race,  of 
the  present  generation  put  together. 

The  traveler  who  crosses  the  plains  of  Asia, 
and  goes  along  the  course  of  the  River  Eu- 
phrates, and  then  passes  down  the  valley  of  the 
Nile  in  Africa,  and  looks  about  him,  and  sees  the 
ruins  of  magnificent  temples,  public  buildings 
and  tombs,  or  mausoleums  for  the  dead,  the 
Sphinx  and  the  towering  pyramids,  will  behold  a 


440  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

marvelous  evidence  of  the  genius  of  a  people,  of 
a  race  who  lived  in  the  ages  gone  by,  who  pro- 
duced a  civilization  that  was  the  pioneer  of  every 
other  in  the  development  of  the  world's  history, 
and  to  whom  the  modern  nations  owe  a  debt  that 
they  can  never  pay  the  people  who  inhabited 
these  countries. 

I.  THE  NEGRO  ETHNOLOGICALLY 
CONSIDERED.— TheVord  Negro  is  of  Latin 
origin,  and  signifies  black,  brown  or  swarthy, 
derived  from  the  Latin  word  Niger,  as  now  ap- 
plied to  the  races  of  the  African  continent,  and 
their  descendants  in  the  United  States,  the  West 
Indies  and  other  parts  of  the  world.  Some 
American  historians  like  Ridpath,  and  other 
small  imitators,  do  not  class  the  Egyptians  and 
Ethiopians,  or  Abyssinians  of  northern  Africa 
as  Negroes;  but  the  old  Greek  and  Latin  writ- 
ers, and  many  of  the  most  eminent  and  scholarly 
modern  historians,  put  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
the  Ethiopians  or  modern  Abyssinian  into  the 
black  or  brown  column,  and  call  them  Hamites 
or  black.  Egypt  was  called  the  black  land,  and 
the  Egyptians  called  their  country  Kem,  or  the 
land  of  the  black  people.  The  Ethiopians,  the 
present  Abyssinians,  the  swarthy  land  or  the  land 
of  the  sunburnt.  The  Bible,  the  best  history, 
asks  an  important  question,  "Can  the  Ethiopian 
change  his  skin?" 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  441 

II.  THE      FOOTPRINTS     OF     THE 
HAM1TIC  OR  BLACK  RACE   IN  THE 
HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD.— In  an  article 
in  the  "Arena"  of  September,  1896,  Prof.  Boy- 
ton,  of  Ohio  University,  says:    "The  black  race 
has  a  history;  in  fact  all  history  is  full  of  traces 
of  the  black  element.     It  is  now  recognized  as 
the  oldest  race  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 
The  wanderings  of  the  people  since  pre-historic 
times  began,  have  not  been  confined  to  the  Afri- 
can continent.     In  Paleolithic  times  the  black 
race  roamed  at  will  over  the  fairest  portion  of 
the  old  world.    Europe  as  well  as  Asia  and  Af- 
rica acknowledged  his  sway.     No  white  man 
had  yet  appeared  to  dispute  his  authority  in  the 
vine-clad  valleys  of  France  and  Germany,  or 
upon  the  classic  hills  of  Greece  and  Rome.    The 
black  man  preceded  all  others,  and  carried  Pal- 
eolithic culture  to  every  height." 

All  honor  to  this  unbiased  and  impartial  his- 
torian; so  much  so,  because  he  is  a  white  man, 
and  an  American. 

III.  NOTICE,  BLACK  OR  HAMITIC 
RACE— A  FUNDAMENTAL  RACE.— (a) 
The  Hamitic  Negro  race  is  a  fundamental  ele- 
ment in  origin;  not  only  the  primitive  races  of 
Southern  Europe,  but  of  all  the  civilized  coun- 
tries of  antiquity.     History  begins,  it  may  be 
said,  in  Ancient  Egypt,  and  recedes  into  the  dim 


442  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

past.  Just  as  far  as  records  and  inscriptions  give 
us  light,  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  along  its 
banks  we  find  civilization  that  has  drawn  from 
all  the  world  and  succeeding  ages  expressions 
of  wonder  and  admiration. 

(b)  The  Ancient  Egyptians  were  a  remark- 
able people;  the  ruling  tribes  are  called  Hami- 
tics.     "The  Sunburnt  Family,"  says  Dr.  Win- 
chel,  "Of  Nigritic  Origin,"  says  Rawlinson;  but 
the  ancient  Greek  historians  tell  us  that  back  of 
the  ruling  Hamites  were  a  gay,  goodnatured, 
pleasant  people. 

(c)  Says  Dr.  Taylor,  an  authority  on  eth- 
nology, "These  people  lived  peaceably  in  these 
regions  two  thousand  years  before  the  advent  of 
the  Asiatic  invaders.     Suggestive  as  they  seem, 
these  terms  are  truly  descriptive  of  the  inhab- 
itants whom  we  expect  to  find  in  the  Valley  of 
the  Nile  in  ancient  times.    They  were  as  purely 
Nigritic   as   the   great  mass   of   the  American 
Negro  or  Afro-Americans. 

IV.  A  RULING  RACE— (a)  When  the 
Hamite  and  their  descendants  were  at  the  height 
of  their  power,  their  influence  extended  far 
wider  than  generally  supposed.  They  passed 
on  to  the  confines  of  Europe;  and  took  posses- 
sion of  Iberia,  Modern  Spain.  Dr.  Winchel 
says:  (North  American  Review)  "They  entered 
Spain  by  the  pillars  of  Hercules,  the  strait  of 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  443 

Gibraltar.  They  came  from  Northern  Africa, 
and  overran  the  Spanish  Peninsula,  founded 
cities,  built  a  navy,  carried  on  commerce  and  ex- 
tended their  Empire  over  Italy  and  Sicanes." 

When  Rome  was  founded,  before  the  siege 
and  sack  of  Italy,  these  Hamites  or  Nigritic  peo- 
ple passed  into  Sicily. 

(b)  The  Pelasgic  Empire  was  at  its  height 
as  early  as  2,000  years  B.  C.    These  people  came 
from  the  Island  of  the  Aegean  Sea,  and  more 
remotely  from  Asia  Minor.    They  were  origin- 
ally  a   branch   of   the   Sunburnt   Hamitics   or 
Nigritic  Stock  that  laid  the  foundation  of  civi- 
lization in  Canaan,  Mespotamia,  Zion  and  Tyre. 
They  passed  on  back  to  Africa  and  founded 
Carthage,  the  head  of  the  Carthaginian  Empire. 
Great  Rome  itself  was  of  Pelasgian  or  Hamitic 
stock  up  to  428  B.  C.,  until  the  Pelasgic  stock 
became  amalgamated  with  neighboring  people 
and  thus  produced  the  Roman  Conqueror  of  the 
world. 

(c)  The  ancient  Greeks  were  a  mixture  of 
Hamitic  and  Japhetic  blood.    The  Hellens  were 
the  first  Aryans  to  be  brought  into  contact  with 
the    Sunburnt    Hamitics.      The    Hamatics    of 
Greece,  who  are  described  by  the  prejudiced 
historian  as  "white,"  were  as  strongly  Nigritic 
as  the  Afro-American  of  the  United  States. 

These  Hellenes  were  savages  and  barbarians, 


444  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

and  the  Hamites  were  cultured,  learned  and  civ- 
ilized, possessing  knowledge  of  the  arts  and 
sciences;  Aryan  or  Japhetic  push  and  energy 
were  brought  in  contact  with  Hamitic  culture 
and  civilization. 

Then  began  the  great  struggle  of  the  centuries 
for  social  equality  between  the  Blonde  Aryan  or 
descendant  of  Japhet,  and  the  Brunette  Pelas- 
gian  or  descendant  of  Ham,  who  had  brought 
science  and  culture  to  Greece  in  the  remote  ages 
of  the  past  from  Egypt. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  mixture  of  the  dark 
blood  of  the  Brunette  Pelasgian,  the  dark  child 
of  the  soil  in  the  Greek  compositions,  Demos- 
thenes, Eschylus,  Sophocles,  Socrates  and  hosts 
of  Greek  poets,  orators,  artists  and  philosophers 
would  never  have  existed. 

V.  THE  HAMITE  OR  NEGRO  HAS 
FIGURED  CONSPICUOUSLY  IN  ALL 
THE  WORLD'S  RACES.— (a)  The  Negro 
has  always  figured  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
His  blood  has  entered  strongly  into  that  of  the 
dominant  and  conquering  Roman,  into  the  Latin 
races  of  Europe — France,  Spain  and  Italy.  This 
Nigritic  blood  had  much  to  do  with  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  great  English  nation,  from  the 
Phoenician  mingling  the  blood  of  the  Hamite 
with  that  of  the  Celt,  Saxon,  Dane  and  Norman 
French,  and  in  every  country  on  this  continent 
his  blood  mingles  with  the  greatest  in  the  land. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  446 

VI.  HAMITE  AS  A  CIVILIZER.— (a) 
As  a  civilizer,  the  Hamite  has  not  had  his  equal, 
or  has  not  been  equalled  by  his  other  brethren, 
the  Semitic  or  Japhetic  races.  Long  before 
Rome  was  founded,  or  Greece  flourished,  the 
descendants  of  Ham  in  Egypt  had  given  to  the 
world  the  highest  possibilities  for  civilization 
and  culture.  To  those  who  deny  the  Negro  in 
general,  and  especially  in  this  country  the  possi- 
bilities of  culture  and  development,  we  point  to 
the  slow  progress  of  the  "Aryan  Races,"  so 
called  by  many  writers  on  ethnology;  but  es- 
pecially so  designed  by  Prof.  Max  Muller. 

Who  could  have  foreseen  the  strength  and 
power  of  the  Aryan  or  so-called  "White  Race?" 
For  thousands  of  years  that  race  roamed  the 
woods  and  forests  of  Asia  and  Europe,  and  were 
as  ignorant  and  barbarous  as  the  African  in  his 
native  jungle. 

(b)  When  at  length  the  proper  time  of  its 
development  was  furnished  by  Providence,  this 
great  energetic,  pushing,  grasping  race  sprang 
into  splendid  development,  and  has  long  since 
passed  its  fellows  in  the  race  of  progress  and 
civilization.  When  in  the  order  of  God's  prov- 
idence the  same  favorable  conditions  and  en- 
vironments shall  be  supplied  to  the  descendants 
of  Ham  in  this  country,  and  especially  when 
'The  Door  of  Hope  is  fully  opened,"  shall  mean 


446  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

more  than  words,  when  "A  Square  Deal"  shall 
be  a  fact  and  not  a  fiction,  then  shall  the  Negro 
or  Afro-American  respond  to  the  opportunities 
given,  and  develop  into  a  great,  progressive  race, 
and  lead  again  in  the  development  of  the 
World's  History. 

Camden,  N.  J. 


COLOR  PREJUDICE  IN  AMERICA  AND 
EUROPE— CAUSES 

BY  JAMES  E.  SHEPARD 

President  of  the  National  Religious  Training  School  and  Chau- 
tauqua,  located  at  Durham,  N.  C. 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

There  is  a  prejudice  in  America  against  peo- 
ple of  color.  This  prejudice  is  seen  in  acts  of 
disbarments  from  public  schools,  in  discrimina- 
tion on  vehicles  used  as  public  carriers,  where 
the  same  price  is  paid  by  all  in  public  accommo- 
dations, and  in  laws  which  are  partially  admin- 
istered in  many  instances.  Color  prejudice  in 
America  is  due  to  two  direct  causes.  First,  the 
Anglo-Saxon's  innate  belief  that  he  is  superior  to 
all  other  races.  This  was  plainly  shown  in  the 
attitude  of  the  Japanese,  who  are  colored  people. 

Admitting  the  fact  that  in  many  instances  the 
Anglo-Saxon  is  superior,  the  superiority  ought 


OR   THE  "FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  447 


Afro- American. 


448  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

to  be  shown  in  the  broadness  of  views,  justice 
and  kindness  to  all  men,  which,  whenever  shown, 
denotes  true  greatness  and  the  highest  superior- 
ity. The  fact  also  is  lost  sight  of  that  three- 
fourths  of  the  world's  population  can  rightly  be 
classed  as  colored  people,  and  in  fact,  from  early 
antiquity  there  has  been  such  a  mixture  of  blood 
between  all  nations,  that  it  is  hard  to  draw  a  di- 
viding line  which  is  absolutely  correct. 

Second,  the  prejudice  toward  the  Negro  espe- 
cially is  due  to  the  first  statement,  and  to  the 
further  fact  that  the  Negro  was  formerly  held 
in  bondage.  After  the  emancipation,  so  great 
was  the  prejudice  held  by  some  that  they  could 
not  endure  to  live  in  a  country  where  former 
slaves  had  been  placed  on  terms  of  equal  citi- 
zenship, and  many  southerners  went  to  Brazil  in 
South  America,  so  that  they  could  still  hold  their 
fellow  men  in  slavery. 

Justice  was  not  asleep.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore slavery  was  abolished  in  Brazil,  and  those 
who  fled  from  the  United  States  on  account  of 
the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  had  to  face  the 
same  conditions  in  South  America,  and  even 
face,  in  the  beginning,  a  greater  equality  than 
has  ever  existed  in  the  United  States.  What  a 
cruel  irony  of  fate! 

The  further  fact  is  lost  sight  of,  that  if  the 
prejudice  is  due  to  former  slavery,  then  this 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  44£ 

would  be  a  just  cause  for  a  world-wide  hatred, 
for  at  one  time  or  another  every  nation  was  in 
bondage  to  some  other  nation.  The  prejudice 
cannot  be  charged  to  illiteracy,  for  every  day 
steamships  are  pouring  upon  American  soil  a 
teeming  horde  of  illiterate  people  who  are  out 
of  harmony  with  the  spirit  and  conditions  of  the 
country;  so  the  only  reason  that  we  can  ascribe 
the  American  prejudice  to  is  color. 

In  America  this  color  prejudice  is  decidedly 
inimical  to  the  growth  of  a  republic,  especially 
a  republic  which  in  its  very  preamble  sets  forth 
the  fact  that  all  men  are  born  equal  and  en- 
dowed by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable 
rights,  the  principal  ones  being  the  right  to  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuits  of  happiness.  In  Amer- 
ica civil  rights  have  not  been  separated  from  the 
right  to  live,  to  acquire  education  and  to  pursue 
business  and  to  participate  in  the  affairs  of  the 
government.  To  the  close  observer  it  would 
seem  passing  strange  that  all  the  rights  set  out 
by  the  above  should  be  made  subservient  to  so- 
cial rights,  and  yet  it  is  the  case. 

States,  in  their  extreme  eagerness  to  regulate 
so-called  social  rights,  have  lost  sight  of  the  fact 
that  every  individual  has  a  right  to  live  and  to 
hope,  and  any  other  spirit  is  beneath  the  notice 
of  a  republic  founded  upon  liberty  and  justice. 
The  State  has  no  right  to  regulate  the  social 

29 


450  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

status  of  the  individuals;  the  social  right  in 
every  case  can  be  regulated  by  the  individuals 
concerned.  A  particular  class  has  the  right  to 
exclude  another  from  the  social  privileges  which 
they  enjoy,  but  the  State  never!  The  case  has 
been  stated  fairly  so  far  as  America  is  concerned. 
Prejudice,  to  some  extent  exists  in  Great  Britain. 
The  smaller  prejudice  is  of  color;  the  larger  is 
of  class.  The  smaller  prejudice  of  color  that 
exists  in  Great  Britain  is  due  to  the  American 
influence. 

I  pen  these  remarks  with  regret  but  it  is  abso- 
lutely true.  In  a  tour  through  Great  Britain, 
in  places  little  visited  by  Americans  I  found  no 
prejudice.  In  towns  visited  by  Americans  there 
is  prejudice,  although  veiled  to  a  large  extent. 
There  is  a  broad  and  deep  sympathy  in  the 
hearts  of  Englishmen  for  the  colored  race  in 
America;  and  this  is  shown  in  many  ways.  In 
fact  the  English  people  have  always  been  the 
friend  of  liberty  in  their  effort  to  put  down  the 
slave  traffic.  England  paid  Portugal  £300,000 
and  paid  Spain  £400,000.  They  kept  a  squadron 
on  the  West  coast  of  Africa  at  an  actual  cost  esti- 
mated by  Mr.  Gladstone,  when  he  was  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer,  of  £700,000  per  year  and 
a  great  sacrifice  of  valuable  lives.  They  paid  to 
the  West  Indies  and  Mauritius  £20,000,000  to 
free  their  slaves,  and  altogether  the  efforts  of 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  451 

England  to  put  down  this  abominable  traffic  cost 
the  country  between  fifty  and  one  hundred 
million  pounds.  The  treatment  of  the  Kaffirs 
in  South  Africa  is  altogether  different,  and 
neither  the  conditions  nor  the  people  are  the 
same  as  in  America. 

In  Great  Britain  the  larger  prejudice  is  due  to 
the  ancient  feudal  system  of  master  and  servant 
and  land  tenure  founded  upon  the  King's  favor, 
and  special  grants  of  landed  estates  were  handed 
down  from  father  to  son,  or  nearest  kin.  This 
class  distinction  or  prejudice  will  exist  so  long 
as  Great  Britain  has  the  present  system  of  entail. 
Land,  except  in  very  few  instances,  cannot  be 
bought;  it  can  only  be  given  as  an  estate  for 
years  or  lease,  and  after  the  expiration  of  the 
same,  the  estate  with  all  its  appurtenances  re- 
verts to  the  original  owner.  The  City  of  Lon- 
don has  acquired  a  great  deal  of  land  and  leases 
it  out,  at  an  excessively  high  and  even  oppressive 
rental.  To  those  who  advocate  municipal  own- 
ership, a  careful  study  of  that  will  produce  a 
change,  or  at  least  cause  them  to  modify  their 
opinion. 

Class  prejudice  is  bad,  but  it  cannot  be  com- 
pared with  color  prejudice.  In  many  instances 
there  is  social  intercourse  between  the  landlord 
and  the  tenant,  and  in  many  cases  even  if  the 
blood  is  wanting  and  money  is  in  abundance,  the 


452  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

walls  of  separation  are  largely  broken  down. 
France  presents  the  truest  and  best  example  of 
what  a  republic  should  be  in  the  treatment  of 
all  classes,  of  any  large  republic  on  earth,  with 
the  possible  exception  of  Brazil.  I  speak  of  the 
masses  and  not  of  the  classes.  The  Dreyfus  in- 
cident could  happen  in  America.  In  France  a 
man  is  a  man,  absolutely  free.  Color  plays  no 
part  in  the  recognition  of  a  person  in  any  of  the 
walks  of  life.  Money  more  than  anything  else 
is  the  open  sesame  in  France.  The  color  preju- 
dice is  entirely  absent.  The  average  Frenchman 
would  not  give  up  his  easy-going  habit  to  disturb 
himself  over  the  fact  as  to  whether  his  neighbor 
was  black  or  white.  They  are  undoubtedly,  tak- 
ing everything  into  consideration,  the  most  polite 
people  on  earth. 

The  electorate  system  is  different  from  Amer- 
ica, but  every  class  of  its  citizens  can,  in  some 
way,  register  his  wish  and  have  that  wish  ex- 
pressed. There  are  two  things  an  intelligent 
Frenchman  cannot  understand:  First,  the  re- 
publican form  of  government  as  expressed  by 
the  United  States,  in  its  treatment  of  the  colored 
races.  Second,  why  such  a  rich  country  cavils 
at  the  payment  of  claims  against  it  which  have 
been  approved.  When  they  point  out  to  the 
traveler  massive  and  historic  buildings,  dating 
back  in  the  centuries  long  ago  gone  by,  and  show 


OR  THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  453 

us  magnificent  ruins,  even  in  their  fallen  grand- 
eur sublime,  we  point  with  pride  to  the  achieve- 
ments of  a  nation  born  but  yesterday.  That  is 
looking  toward  the  rising  and  not  the  setting  sun. 
They  admit  that  and  then  ask  about  the  treat- 
ment of  the  colored  people,  and  why  such  a 
great  and  rich  nation  will  not  pay  its  honest  and 
approved  debts.  Then  it  is  that  we  hang  our 
heads  in  shame  and  admit  the  soundness  of  their 
argument. 

In  Italy,  since  the  adoption  of  the  constitution, 
the  people  enjoy  freedom  almost  equal  to  a  re- 
public; in  fact,  the  Italians  will  tell  you  they 
are  the  most  free  people  on  earth,  but  I  would 
certainly  question  that.  There  is  no  color  preju- 
dice in  Italy  by  the  native  Italian.  Some  col- 
ored people  fought  with  Garibaldi's  army  for 
the  freedom  of  Italy.  In  Germany  a  similar 
condition  as  exists  in  Great  Britain  largely  ob-. 
tains.  Negroes  are  not  found  to  a  large  extent 
in  Europe.  Several  have  obtained  prominence 
and  international  reputation  as  artists,  novelists, 
writers,  soldiers  and  musicians.  The  argument 
may  be  advanced  that  if  the  Negroes  were  not 
in  such  large  numbers  in  America,  and  steadily 
increasing,  conditions  would  be  different.  The 
presence  of  the  large  numbers  should  call  forth 
no  injustice  and  wrong  treatment.  Treat  a  man 
like  a  brute  and  the  brute  element  within  him 


454  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

will  eventually  gain  complete  mastery  and  the 
man  becomes  a  brute;  but  treat  him  like  a  man 
and  a  man  he  will  prove.  I  believe  that  every- 
one who  has  the  higher  power  of  thought  should 
have  the  political  education  and  commercial 
rights  that  belong  to  America — excelling  on 
all  other  lines,  should  try  to  excel  all  other  na- 
tions in  its  broad  and  magnanimous  treatment 
of  all  colored  people,  and  the  prompt  payment 
of  all  its  just  and  approved  debts.  When  this 
is  done,  its  citizens  traveling  abroad  will  never 
have  cause  to  hang  their  heads  in  shame  for  their 
beloved  land. 

Durham,  N.  C. 


AN     OPTIMISTIC     VIEW     OF     THE 
NEGRO  QUESTION 

Part  of  an  address  delivered  before  the  faculty  and  students  of 

Shaw  University,  by  Prof.  G.  E.  Davis,  Ph.  D., 

Dean  of  Biddle  University. 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

"The  question  may  be  asked — what  is  our 
greatest  problem?  There  are  several  great  prob- 
lems that  constantly  present  themselves  to  the 
American  people.  Education,  Temperance, 
Labor  and  Capital,  Trusts  and  Railroads,  Im- 
perialism and  foreign  immigration.  Then,  last 
but  not  least,  "The  Negro  Problem,"  or,  better 


OR   THE    FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  456 


PROFESSOR   G.  E-   DAVIS,  PH.  D. 


456  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

stated,  "The  Problem  of  the  Races."  This  last 
is  the  greatest  because  it  touches  and  influences 
all  the  others.  It  touches  American  life  at  every 
point.  My  only  apology  for  bringing  before  you 
a  subject  with  which  most  of  you  are  no  doubt  as 
familiar  as  I  am,  is  that  my  view  may  not  lead 
altogether  in  the  beaten  track.  My  line  of  de- 
parture may  be  different.  Innumerable  reapers 
have  put  their  sickle  into  the  sunny  field,  but  the 
harvest  is  so  abundant  that  even  the  search  of  a 
wayward  gleaner  may  be  rewarded  with  a  sheaf. 

Today,  no  man  is  courageous  enough  to  say 
with  confidence  what  the  ultimate  solution  will 
be.  He  who  asserts  it  is  either  an  idiot  or  a  fool. 

It  is  being  more  generally  accepted  as  a  fact 
that  in  contributing  a  degree  of  light  upon  the 
subject,  that  the  Negro  is  the  only  one  of  the 
darker  races  that  has  proven  capable  of  looking 
the  Anglo-Saxon  in  the  face  at  short  range  and 
continuing  to  live  in  a  progressive  manner.  It 
is  a  question  to  be  determined  if  the  rising 
tawny  national  powers  of  the  East  upon  the 
higher  and  broader  plane  of  nationality  can 
withstand  what  by  many  is  held  to  be  the  in- 
evitable contest  for  supremacy.  We  believe  the 
results  will  be  determined  by  the  measure  in 
which  the  Christian  religion  is  embraced.  In 
our  own  land  it  seems  to  be  certain  that  there 
can  never  be  absolute  separation  of  the  Negro 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  457 

from  the  white  race,  fundamentally,'  because 
they  have  the  same  religion.  Their  forms  and 
object  of  worship  are  identical  and  their  creeds 
and  creedal  sources  are  the  same.  The  sameness 
of  social,  civil  and  political  institutions  of  the 
country  also  have  a  significant  and  important 
bearing  upon  the  question.  The  true  and  only 
solution  of  our  greatest  problem  is  worthy  of 
consideration. 

I  hold  that  it  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  Bible 
and  the  principles  of  which  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
embodiment.  Looked  at  in  the  light  of  experi- 
ence, which  has  been  sufficiently  varied,  we  find 
sufficient  grounds  for  our  conclusions. 

(i)  Political  methods  have  not  accom- 
plished the  results  contemplated,  although  they 
have  not  been  failures  or  barren  of  beneficent 
results.  When  the  Negro  was  given  the  right  of 
franchise,  it  was  hoped  that  a  weapon  was  put 
into  his  hands  with  which  he  might  fight  his 
way  to  the  heights  of  citizenship ;  but  in  the  South 
his  vote  was  counted  as  suited  the  convenience 
of  political  exigency  of  the  Democratic  Party— 
as  is  attested  by  the  suffrage  clauses  of  the  South- 
ern States'  Constitutions  and  Election  Laws, 
enacted  in  harmony  therewith. 

The  white  South  showed  its  opposition:  (a) 
By  the  Black  Code  enacted  under  the  policy  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  (b)  By  the  KuKlux  organi- 


458  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

zations  during  reconstruction,  (c)  By  fraud 
and  as  little  violence  as  possible  from  1878  to 
1895,  when  it  was  discovered  by  Southern  polit- 
ical leaders  that  the  Federal  Government  was 
not  strong  enough  to  enforce  the  constitution  in 
the  interests  of  the  whole  people  alike. 

(2)  It  has  been  proposed  to  colonize  the 
Negro.  To  this  both  the  Negro  and  his  white 
fellow  citizen  will  offer  stubborn  resistance — 
even  if  a  territory  in  which  to  colonize  him 
could  be  found — a  thing  practically  impossible 
for  several  reasons,  so  evident  they  will  not  be 
mentioned. 

It  is  no  longer  a  question  if  the  black  man  and 
the  white  man  can  live  together  here  in  the 
South  on  terms  of  civilvand  political  equality. 
God,  by  His  providence,  seems  to  say  they  must. 
The  white  man  will  be  helped  to  be  more  chari- 
table and  less  fearful  of  the  bugbear  of  social 
equality  if  he  will  take  time  to  study  the  better 
side  of  Negro  life.  The  records  of  the  courts 
are  not  the  only  places  to  go  for  statistics. 

We  have  our  criminal  class — far  too  numer- 
ous, we  admit.  But  there  are  others. 

The  Negro  cannot  be  colonized  because  of 
his  relation  to  the  industrial  forces  of  the  coun- 
try. The  South  boasts  of  a  civilization  instinct 
with  dignity  and  grace.  The  New  South, 
springing  Phoenix  like,  from  the  ashes  of  the 


OR   THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  459 

old,  is  forging  fast  forward  to  the  very  front  rank 
in  industrial  and  economic  importance.  A  fair 
minded  and  Christian  people  will  be  slow  to 
forget  that,  beneath  all  her  glory,  past,  present 
and  to  come,  has  been  and  will  continue  to  be  the 
Negro's  brawny  arm.  It  is  his  toil  that  has 
cleared  the  forests,  cultivated  her  fields,  covered 
her  hills  with  fleecy  whiteness,  and  her  plains 
and  valleys  with  golden  grain. 

The  causes  which  bind  us  to  the  South  are 
stronger  than  were  the  bonds  of  slavery;  they  are 
not  only  social  and  political;  they  are  ethnic  and 
climatic.  The  one  unalterable  element  on  the 
industrial  side  of  the  problem  is  climate.  State 
and  national  political  bodies  cannot  legislate  it 
out  of  existence. 

The  white  races  of  the  globe  have  never 
labored  successfully  and  continuously  upon 
fields  where  the  snow  seldom  falls.  In  all  the 
countries  of  the  globe  south  of  the  Tropic  of 
Cancer,  one  of  the  cardinal  canons  of  the  white 
man's  faith  is  the  ability  to  live  without  physical 
toil.  It  was  this  more  than  any  other  cause, 
that  made  the  South  cling  so  tenaciously  to  the 
institution  of  slavery.  All  the  subtropical  coun- 
tries of  the  globe  present  similar  industrial  prob- 
lems. Great  Britain  has  a  similar  one  in  India. 
Egypt  and  the  Israelites  had  it  in  ancient  times. 
The  cancer  of  caste  seems  to  cling  to  the  Tropic 


460  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

of  Cancer.  When  the  white  man  can  change  the 
climate,  it  will  be  time  enough  for  us  to  fear  the 
colonization  of  the  Negro  and  the  importation 
of  white  field  labor.  A  vertical  sunbeam  makes 
the  white  man  inert  physically.  It  is  upon  the 
darker  races,  therefore  that  the  South  must  de- 
pend for  physical  strength  in  the  development 
of  her  great  natural  resources.  It  is  to  his  physi- 
cal prowess  that  she  must  look  for  the  mining 
of  her  coal,  iron  and  copper,  for  the  building  of 
her  great  railroads,  for  the  draining  of  her 
swamps  and  the  building  of  her  great  inland 
water  ways,  which  will  soon  make  the  South  the 
richest  part  of  the  Union,  and  for  the  cultivation 
of  her  farm  lands,  hundreds  of  acres  of  which 
are  being  abandoned  every  year  by  the  "poor 
whites,"  who  are  swarming  into  the  factories 
springing  up  all  over  the  South.  Not  only  on 
the  farm,  but  in  other  lines  of  industry  and 
artisan  skill,  the  Negro  is  demonstrating  his 
skill.  The  cities  of  the  South,  with  their  resi- 
dences of  grace  and  beauty,  now  almost  ven- 
erated with  age,  are  standing  monuments  to  the 
Negro's  mechanical  skill,  while  yet  a  slave,  and 
his  hand  has  not  yet  forgot  its  cunning. 

Let  it  be  said  with  credit  to  the  South,  that 
the  black  man  is  given  employment  and  excellent 
wages  as  a  mechanic.  In  the  city  of  Charlotte, 
the  largest  hotel  between  Atlanta  and  Baltimore 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  461 

is  largely  the  work  of  colored  mechanics.  These 
privileges  are  denied  us  at  the  North. 

I  think  I  have  shown  that  the  interests  of  the 
two  races  are  so  indissolubly  bound  together  that 
they  ought  to  strive  to  know  each  other  better. 
When  men  like  Henry  Watterson  and  Governor 
Hughes  make  such  public  utterances  in  defence 
of  the  rights  of  the  Negro  as  were  made  the 
other  day,  I  think  there  is  ground  for  encourage- 
ment. It  is  a  hopeful  sign  of  the  times  that  in- 
telligent and  law-abiding  Negroes  may  come  to- 
gether in  such  assemblies  as  this,  even  in  the 
Capital  of  the  State,  under  the  shadow  of  the 
temple  of  justice,  and  freely  and  fearlessly  dis- 
cuss such  questions  as  affect  his  progress  and 
relations  to  the  republic  of  which  he  forms  a 
part. 

It  has  not  always  been  thus,  and  even  when 
such  opportunity  has  come,  often  more  harm 
than  good  has  been  done  by  harsh  and  in- 
temperate orators,  who  have  sought  to  impress 
upon  a  credulous  public  their  own  astuteness 
rather  than  the  lasting  good.  It  is  not  altogether 
in  our  favor  that  we  are  a  race  of  orators.  There 
are  too  many  who  want  to  pose  as  leaders  and 
too  few  are  willing  to  work  in  a  circumscribed 
sphere,  achieving  permanent  and  beneficial  re- 
sults as  individuals. 

I  come  now  to  state  another  reason  why  colon- 


46fc  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

ization  cannot  be  thought  of.  Not  only  will  the 
white  South  oppose  it  for  reasons  given,  but  the 
Negro  himself,  will  not  consent  to  it.  I  do  not 
stand  here  as  an  apologist  for  the  wrongs  suffered 
here  by  my  people. 

There  are  a  few  who  are  disposed  to  deny  that 
the  Negro  has  his  full  quota  of  troubles — 
troubles  that  come  to  him  because  of  his  contact 
with  the  dominant  race  in  whose  midst  he  lives. 
.1  am  not  here  tonight  to  speak  harshly  of  the  ex- 
slaveholder  nor  of  his  immediate  successor,  in 
whose  midst  we  are  today.  I  am  loyal  to  the 
South.  *  *  The  Southern  born  Negro 

does  not  know  how  to  hate  his  white  fellow-citi- 
zen. He  would  not  if  he  could.  We  are  going 
to  work  out  our  destiny  here.  I  verily  believe 
that,  whatever  may  be  the  storms  that  ruffle  the 
surface,  there  is  a  genuine  feeling  of  regard  and 
interest  on  the  part  of  the  educated  and  thought- 
ful white  people  of  the  South  for  the  Negroes 
who  are  striving  day  by  day,  to  rise  above  the 
tyranny  of  "low  birth"  and  "iron  fortune." 

The  thoughtful  student  of  history  will  not 
wonder  that  the  white  South  regarded  the 
Negro,  at  the  time  of  his  emancipation,  as  the 
cause  of  all  his  woes.  Yet,  time  will  eradicate 
that  bitterness. 

Even  as  it  is,  he  sells  our  town  lot  and  our 
farms;  he  contributes  of  his  means  for  the  sup- 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  463 

port  of  our  churches.  The  Negro's  note  is  good 
at  the  white  man's  bank.  He  has  accumulated 
in  the  South,  187,000  farms.  From  poverty  and 
penury  he  has  advanced  to  the  possession  of 
$450,000,000  worth  of  farm  lands  and  $170,000,- 
ooo  worth  of  personal  property,  making  a  total 
of  $620,000,000.  Most  of  this  wealth  is  in  the 
South. 

He  has  been  able  to  do  this  or  much  of  it  on  ac- 
count of  the  tolerance  and  friendship  of  the  best 
and  most  representative  business  men  of  the 
country.  We  see,  therefore,  that  both  races  have 
a  duty  to  perform.  The  white  man  should 
encourage  the  Negro  and  it  is  our  duty  to  do  all 
we  can,  by  all  honorable  means,  to  win  and  re- 
tain the  respect  and  confidence  of  our  well  dis- 
posed neighbor. 

We  will  never  leave  the  South.  We  are  a 
part  of  its  civilization.  The  black  man  of  the 
South  says  to  the  white  man  of  the  South,  in  the 
language  of  Ruth  to  Naomi:  "Whither  thou 
goest  I  will  go,  and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will 
lodge;  thy  people  shall  be  my  people  and  thy 
God  my  God;  where  thou  diest  I  will  die  and 
there  will  I  be  buried." 

To  the  white  race  wisdom  should  suggest  that 
they  encourage  the  Negro  by  removing  from  his 
path  every  barrier  to  his  material  and  educa- 
tional advancement,  safe-guard  his  home  and  his 


464  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

citizen-rights  and  make  him  to  feel  that  he  is 
not  an  alien  in  the  land  that  gave  him  birth. 

The  black  man's  efficiency  and  usefulness  will 
be  in  direct  proportion  to  his  happy  and  con- 
tented condition.  The  race  has  at  its  command 
a  certain  amount  of  vitality.  Just  in  proportion 
as  that  energy  is  expended  over  legal  disabil- 
ities, unjust  laws,  unequal  educational  oppor- 
tunities and  restrictions  in  the  battle  for  bread 
in  that  larger  sense  in  which  "the  life  is  more 
than  meat  and  the  body  than  raiment"  will  he  be 
rendered  less  efficient  in  the  output  of  useful 
labor.  I  am  optimistic  enough  to  believe  this 
kind  of  encouragement  will  come. 

With  the  relative  advance  of  both  races  in  the 
civic  virtues  and  material  progress,  there  is  a 
growing  mutual  respect  which  lessens  friction. 
Chief  reliance  though  for  the  accomplishment  of 
this  result  must  be  put  upon  the  reign  of  Christ 
in  the  hearts  of  men. 

There  will  always  be  racial  peculiarities  and 
distinctions  and  these  may  be  insisted  upon,  and 
yet  it  must  remain  forever  true  that  two  peoples, 
living  side  by  side,  speaking  the  same  language, 
nurtured  in  the  same  faith  and  looking  loyally 
and  lovingly  into  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,  will 
live  harmoniously  and  peacefully  together. 

I  bring  you,  therefore,  my  friends,  tonight,  a 
message  of  optimism.  There  is  much  to  make 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  465 

the  present  bright — the  future  hopeful.  Let  us 
not  be  pessimists!  Leaders  among  us  put  too 
much  stress  on  unfortunate  conditions  which  at 
the  present  time  surround  us.  God  cannot  use 
a  discouraged  people.  Too  much  emphasis  here 
produces  a  morbid  and  dissatisfied  condition. 
The  Negro  is  better  situated  here  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  world.  We  must  not  expect 
too  much.  The  Afro-American's  progress  is  un- 
precedented in  all  the  annals  of  history. 

(1)  In  education.     Illiteracy  has  been  re- 
duced from  100  per  cent  to  44  per  cent. 

(2)  In  material  development. 

(3)  Religious   progress.     In   reaching  this 
vantage  ground,  it  is  but  fair  to  state  that  we 
have  been  more  effectually  aided  than  other  peo- 
ples have  been.     ( i )     By  being  in  touch  with  an 
advanced  civilization.     (2)   By    the    combined 
effort  of  Christian  people  through  schools  and 
churches.     (3)     By  the  reactionary  forces  of  op- 
position.   And  this  last  has  not  been  the  least 
important  agent  in  the  Negro's  advancement,  as 
it  is  a  crucial  test  of  his  right  to  be  and  to  share 
benefits  of  civilization. 

A  writer  has  said:  "Were  I  to  choose  a  fam- 
ily that  would  live,  I  would  have  it  endure  hard- 
ships and  persecutions,  were  I  to  choose  one  to 
die,  I  would  give  it  pleasure  and  luxury." 

The    Jew,    scourged    in    every    land    under 

30 


466  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

Heaven,  robbed  of  his  lands,  driven  from  his 
pastoral  life  by  relentless  persecution,  has  yet  ad- 
vanced and  prospered  and  multiplied,  in  every 
clime  and  under  every  form  of  government  in 
the  world.  The  Negro  must  not  expect  to  be  an 
exception.  The  Saxon  has  arrived  through 
blood  and  toil  and  hardship. 

History  is  full  of  movements  that  are  big  with 
injustice.  The  progress  of  mankind  has  been 
through  head  winds.  The  course  has  seldom 
been  a  straight  one  as  man  planned,  but  a 
crooked  one,  as  man  made  it,  like  a  ship  beat- 
ing its  way  against  hard  and  furious  weather, 
she  does  not  always  point  to  the  goal,  but  there 
is  gain  in  the  stretch.  The  movement  is  zig- 
zag but  the  resultant  is  progress  toward  the  final 
goal. 

The  law  of  struggle  is  the  law  of  life;  a  severe 
law,  but  the  providence  of  God,  and,  in  the  long 
run,  the  law  through  which  comes  all  human 
achievement  and  progress. 

Our  lot  in  this  country  is  indeed  a  hard  one 
and  a  grave  responsibility  rests  upon  the  edu- 
cated class  among  us.  To  all  such  I  wish  to  say 
there  is  much  we  can  do  to  make  our  condition 
more  tolerable.  By  tact  and  courtesy,  by  judici- 
ous avoidance  of  topics  that  arouse  useless  con- 
tention, by  quietly  developing  along  these  lines 
where  there  is  no  conflict,  by  the  acquisition  of 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  467 

wealth  and  education,  by  untiring  and  unob- 
trusive expression  of  good  feeling  and  by  the 
sedulous  cultivation  of  the  law  of  Christian  love, 
let  us  endeavor  to  win  over  those  who  are  our 
enemies  because  they  think  we  are  theirs.  Let 
no  man  imagine  that  I  condone  or  encourage  or 
advise  voluntary  humiliation.  Every  one  con- 
demns the  frown-fearing,  smile-courting,  hat-in- 
hand  Negro. 

True  manliness  is  respected  in  white  and  black 
alike.  Our  hard  and  rugged  pathway  is  not  our 
greatest  calamity.  England  beheaded  its  kings. 
Cromwell  had  his  wars.  France  had  its  Bar- 
tholomew and  its  Reign  of  Terror.  The  rivers 
of  Germany  ran  red  with  human  blood. 

And,  now,  a  concluding  word  by  way  of  appli- 
cation. I  sometimes  fear  that  the  greatest  danger 
of  the  Negro's  failure  is  more  internal  than  ex- 
ternal. His  conduct  in  public  places  is  often  far 
from  what  it  should  be. 

The  refined  and  respectable  members  of  the 
race  are  humiliated  and  disgraced  by  a  class  of 
lawless  ruffianswho  infest  our  depots  and  coaches 
set  aside  for  colored  people,  who  have  no  respect 
for  law.  We  are  ashamed  of  them  but  helpless. 
The  unjust  and  cruel  law  which  forces  upon  us 
the  "Jim  Crow"  car  law  would  be  a  little  more 
tolerable  if  there  were  some  way  of  getting  rid 
of  the  "Jim  Crow"  Negro  who  seems  never 
happier  than  when  loitering  around  the  stations. 


468  HOLM'S   RACE    ASSIMILATION 

Another  internal  trouble:  In  nearly  all  our 
cities  there  are  among  our  people  lodges  and 
burial  associations,  good  and  of  great  value 
when  properly  conducted.  But  I  confess  it  pains 
me  to  see  our  people  living  in  squalor  and  being 
buried  in  luxury.  It  is  a  mistake  to  give  a  one 
hundred  dollar  funeral  to  a  fifty  cent  Negro. 

Again,  there  is  another  serious  drawback,  in 
the  existence  of  a  class  of  easy-going  citizens, 
who  infest  the  town  and  live  by  the  sweat  and 
toil  of  wife,  mother  or  daughter  over  wash  tubs 
or  in  cook  rooms,  while  they  live  as  gentlemen 
(?)  of  leisure  or  furnish  the  courts  with  crim- 
inals. Let  us  give  no  tolerance  to  these  idle  and 
vicious  people.  They  do  the  race  irreparable 
harm. 

In  his  business  life  the  Negro  has  many  les- 
sons to  learn.  Whatever  may  be  said  of  his  mis- 
fortune in  politics — his  failure  in  business  and 
professional  life  is  due  to  himself.  It  is  true 
that  the  failure  of  the  Freedman's  Saving  Bank, 
officiated  at  the  time  by  Negroes,  but  really  mis- 
managed by  heartless  white  men  from  the  North, 
created  a  distrust  for  banks  in  general  and  col- 
ored banks  in  particular,  which  more  than 
twenty-five  years  have  not  served  to  eradicate. 
The  result  has  been  that  funds  have  been  with- 
held which,  if  properly  invested,  would  have 
helped  the  race  on  material  lines.  We  have  yet 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  46£ 

to  learn  the  advantages  of  partnership  and  of 
mutual  support. 

Respect  for  our  professional  men:  We  have 
not  yet  come  to  a  proper  realization  of  the  im- 
portance of  properly  supporting  our  professional 
men.  *  *  *  In  the  ultimate  analysis,  it  is 
in  the  home  that  the  Negro's  status  is  to  be  solved. 
The  girls  and  women  of  the  race  will  fix  the 
destiny  and  the  character  of  the  race.  "She  who 
rocks  the  cradle  rules  the  race."  Well  may  it 
be  said:  "The  soul's  armor  is  never  well  set 
to  the  soul  unless  braced  by  the  hand  of  a  woman,, 
and  it  is  only  when  she  braces  it  loosely  that  the 
vigor  of  manhood  fails."  Let  us  do  what  we  can 
to  preserve  the  purity  of  our  women.  It  is  a 
shameful  truth  that  in  some  cities,  at  least,  there 
are  Negro  men  driving  vehicles  of  public  utility, 
with  no  visible  support,  who  are  agents  of  barter 
and  sale  of  the  virtue  of  our  women. 

We  must  exercise  more  care  in  the  selection  of 
associates  for  our  children,  and  social  lines  must 
be  drawn. 

I  have  spoken  thus  freely,  perhaps  too  freely 
for  some,  because  the  educated  class  among  us 
feel  the  burden  of  these  shortcomings.  The  great 
mass  of  our  people  are  so  steeped  in  ignorance 
that  they  do  not  feel  the  burden.  The  cultured 
class  read,  think,  judge  and  philosophize  and 
their  sufferings  are  too  often  seen  in  the  deep 
lines  of  anxiety  on  cheek  and  brow. 


470  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

We  are  looking,  my  friends,  for  the  dawn  of 
a  brighter  day.  Truth  must  win.  Orwe  de- 
veloped it  remained  stationary  for  ages.  The 
sun  may  be  obscured  by  the  clouds  for  a  month, 
but  the  vegetation  does  not  go  back  into  the 
ground.  It  remains  and  waits  the  certain  coming 
of  the  genial  sun. 

'  'Some  of  these  days  all  skies  will  be  brighter, 
Some  of  these  days  all  the  burdens  be  lighter, 
Hearts  will  be  happier,  souls  will  be  whiter, 
Some  of  these  days. 

"Some  of  these  days,  in  deserts  uprising, 
Fountains  shall  flash  while  the  joy  bells  are  ringing, 
And  the  world  with  its  sweetest  of  birds  shall  go  singing, 
Some  of  these  days. 

"Some  of  these  days,  let  us  bear  with  our  sorrow, 
Faith  in  the  future — its  light  we  may  borrow, 
There  will  be  joy  in  the  garden  tomorrow — 
Some  of  these  days." 


INTERCOURSE  BETWEEN  THE  RACES 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

BY  PROF.  WILLIAM  PICKENS, 

The  leading  young  Negro  linguist  in  America. 

This  is  a  modification  of  one  of  the  sub- 
jects that  was  suggested  to  me.  Carnal 
intercourse,  thank  heaven,  is  not  the  only 
variety  of  contact  possible  between  two  races 
that  live  together  as  the  white  and  black 


Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  Pickens  present  one  of  the  many  striking 
examples  of  intermarriage  in  the  South  between  the  dark-skinned 
Negro  and  the  white-skinned  colored  Caucasian,  confirming  our  as- 
sertion that  dissimilarities  cross  for  evolutionary  growth. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  471 

races  live  in  the  United  States.  It  is  pos- 
sible for  the  two  races  to  have  more  good  re- 
lations than  bad  ones.  I  was  asked  if  illicit  inter- 
course was  equally  hurtful  to  the  morals  of  both 
races.  That  is  like  asking  if  the  same  thing  that 
will  hurt  a  white  man,  will  also  hurt  a  black 
man.  It  reminds  me  of  Shylock.  I  know  of  no 
such  difference  in  the  natural  make-up  of  a  black 
person  or  a  white  person,  that  will  make  either 
one  physically,  morally  or  intellectually  invul- 
nerable where  the  other  is  vulnerable.  Any  sort 
of  illicit  commerce  between  the  races  must  have 
the  same  effect  on  each.  Neither  reason  nor 
recorded  experience  indicates  any  other  conclu- 
sion. Some  one  might  conclude,  before  taking  a 
second  thought,  that  as  such  intercourse  is  prac- 
ticed in  America  it  hurts  only  the  manhood  of 
the  white  race,  while  it  harms  the  womanhood 
of  the  black  race.  But  now  for  the  "second 
thought" — what  about  the  white  womanhood  of 
the  future,  and  the  black  manhood  of  the  future? 
Will  not  the  future  white  womanhood  come  out 
of  the  present  white  manhood,  and  will  not  the 
future  black  manhood  depend  for  its  moral 
stamina  upon  the  present  black  womanhood? 

But  there  is  also  much  good  intercourse  be- 
tween the  races.  An  increase  in  such  good  inter- 
course would  increase  good  opinion  of  each  other 
and  would  thereby  tend  to  decrease  the  different 


472  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

species  of  bad  intercourse.  It  is  a  strange  fact  of 
individual  human  nature  that  the  lower  one 
esteems  certain  other  persons,  the  less  careful  will 
he  be  in  his  conduct  toward  them  and  with  them. 
It  is  a  high  respect  for  our  neighbors  that  helps 
to  brace  our  own  characters.  It  seems  to  be  put- 
ting the  cause  for  the  effect,  but  there  is  less 
illicit  intercourse  between  those  classes  of  the 
races  which  each  recognizes  as  the  "better  class" 
of  the  other.  It  is  a  case  where  the  effect  is  par- 
tial cause  and  the  cause  partial  effect.  Bad  inter- 
course, however  intimate  it  may  be,  does  not 
tend  to  clear  up  misunderstanding  between  the 
races.  Good,  legitimate,  cordial  relations  would 
occasion  better  understanding.  And  misunder- 
standing is  the  mother  of  a  good  deal  of  mischief. 
One  of  the  reasons  why  a  white  man  gets  along 
better  with  a  white  man  than  he  gets  along  with 
a  Negro  is  that  the  white  man  understands  a 
white  man  better.  Perfect  understanding  does 
not  exist  in  the  same  race  even.  Some  mind  took 
a  pessimistic  turn  and  described  the  world  of  men 
as  a  number  of  little  human  islands  screaming 
across  oceans  of  misunderstanding.  It  is  perhaps 
not  quite  so  bad  as  that  in  all  the  world,  but  it  is 
somewhat  like  that  between  the  two  races  in  the 
United  States.  The  condition  undermines  mutual 
confidence.  How  often  have  I,  in  conversation 
with  intelligent  Negroes,  found  it  necessary  to 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  473 


MASTER  WM.  PICKENS  AND  HIS  LITTLE;  SISTER,  HATTIE  IDA. 

Striking  contrast  in  parents  nearly  always  means  superior 
offspring  in  the  Negro  race.  Like  should  never  marry  like  in  the 
Negro  or  any  other  race. 


474  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

defend  the  simple  proposition  "that  there  are 
some  just  and  fair  and  trustworthy  white  people 
in  the  world"!  And  how  often  have  you,  white 
reader,  heard  such  a  discussion,  respecting  the 
entire  Negro  race,  carried  on  by  intelligent  white 
people !  It  simply  shows  what  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings our  ignorance  of  each  other  can  engender. 

A  little  contact  between  the  better  elements  of 
the  two  races  helps  even  the  strongest-minded  of 
us.  We  are  all  influenced  alike  by  ignorance  of 
one  another.  We  are  all  equally  subject  to  the 
laws  of  God  and  nature,  whatever  inequalities 
might  be  written  into  the  laws  of  man.  I  myself 
get  a  better  opinion  of  the  white  race  whenever 
I  shake  hands  and  have  a  cordial  conversation 
with  a  first-class  member  of  the  white  race.  And 
sometimes  I  am  in  sore  need  of  such  improve- 
ment of  opinion.  And  many  a  time  after  such 
a  conversation  have  I  heard  the  white  person 
say,  "Ah,  you  greatly  encourage  me"!  Many  a 
time  after  speaking  to  white  audiences  in  the 
North  or  mixed  audiences  in  the  South  the  white 
people  have  come  forward  to  say,  "You  have 
done  great  good  today;  if  we  could  only  hear 
such  talks  oftener,  we  should  understand  so  much 
better."  There  are  white  people  in  my  town 
whose  best  knowledge  of  the  Negro  race  is 
limited  to  the  very  ordinary  and  sometimes  not 
very  honest  person  who  cooks  their  food  or  drives 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  475 

their  carriage  or  blacks  their  boots.  Such  a  white 
person  has  the  great  misfortune  of  not  knowing 
the  Negro  race  at  all  and  the  greater  misfortune 
of  thinking  that  he  knows  it  very  well.  There 
is  the  white  man  who  never  entered  a  Negro 
home  except  to  ferret  out  some  rascal  and  take 
him  to  jail,  and  of  course,  that  white  man  feels 
sure  that  "Negroes  are  criminals."  Ignorance  is 
the  mother  of  most  of  our  illwords  and  illwill. 

Mere  physical  contact  of  buying  and  selling 
over  counters,  of  using  the  same  streets  and  to  a 
certain  extent,  the  same  public  places,  of  riding 
on  the  same  train  in  our  "separate"  cars  and  of 
jostling  each  other  on  our  crowded  thorough- 
fares, is  not  a  good  basis  for  many  important 
conclusions  respecting  each  other.  .And  yet  this 
is  the  whole  content  of  many  a  white  man's  mind 
when  he  says,  "I  know  the  Negro;  I  have  lived 
with  'em  for  years."  I  have  lived  thus  with  thou- 
sands of  people  whom  I  never  shall  know.  A 
certain  white  man  in  Alabama  whom  I  see  nearly 
every  day,  is  not  as  well  known  to  me  as  a  certain 
white  man  in  New  York  whom  I  have  seen  just 
once. 

Our  industrial  relations  make  us  a  little  better 
acquainted.  In  the  "independent  trades,"  like 
brick  masonry,  carpentry,  etc.,  blacks  and  whites 
have  worked  side  by  side  for  years.  In  the  de- 
pendent trades,  factory  work,  etc.,  the  white  em- 


476  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

ployer  has  separated  the  whites  and  blacks  or  cut 
the  blacks  out  altogether.  The  fact  that  the  in- 
dustrial classes  of  the  two  races  work  together 
harmoniously  when  they  are  independent  of  any 
employer  seems  to  contradict  the  frequent  asser- 
tion that  the  main  opposition  to  the  Negro  is 
from  this  class  of  whites.  It  is  very  probable  that 
the  white  leaders,  especially  the  politicians,  by 
their  policies  and  speeches  often  cause  bad  feel- 
ing where  good  relations  would  otherwise  exist 
between  the  simple,  plain  people  of  the  two 
races.  In  different  parts  of  the  South  I  have 
seen  the  "common  people"  of  the  two  races 
mingling  at  street  fairs  with  much  cheer  and 
laughter,  where  a  thirty  minutes'  harangue  from 
an  office-hunter  with  a  lot  of  "social  equality" 
dope  in  his  bag,  would  raise  a  cry  for  human 
blood. 

Causes  which  are  perfectly  understood  when 
looked  at  historically,  have  given  the  Negro  a 
much  better  industrial  opportunity  in  the  South 
than  in  the  North.  There  are  places  in  the  North 
where  the  Negro  is  at  full  liberty  to  spend  his 
money  in  first-class  theaters,  hotels,  etc.,  but  his 
privilege  to  earn  money  is  limited  to  the  most 
menial  positions.  There  are  places  in  the  South 
w7hich  present  the  opposite  condition,  the  Negro 
having  practically  unlimited  industrial  oppor- 
tunities, but  being  very  much  restricted  at  pres- 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  477 

ent  in  his  opportunities  to  spend  well  what  he 
earns.  As  between  the  two  evils  I  should  choose 
the  Southern  one,  for  a  people  that  are  allowed 
to  earn  money  will  finally  create  their  own  op- 
portunities to  spend  it,  while  those  who  are  re- 
stricted in  their  right  to  earn  cannot  always  main- 
tain their  privilege  to  spend.  There  are  some  in 
the  North  who  do  not  object  to  the  rights  of  the 
Negro  in  any  particular,  but  who  object  to  his 
physical  presence.  They  simply  do  not  want  him 
in  their  community,  that  is  all.  Their  love  for 
the  Negro  increases  directly  as  the  square  of  the 
distance  between  them  and  the  Negro.  The 
Negro's  case  is  full  of  humorous  contradictions. 
A  heathen  from  Africa  or  Asia,  after  listen- 
ing ta  one  of  our  missionaries  preach,  would 
naturally  expect  to  find  in  America  a  very  cor- 
dial religious  association  between  the  races.  But 
alas  for  the  uninitiated  heathen!  Some  of  our 
religious  principles  do  not  include  the  other  fel- 
low any  more  than  the  Jews  included  the 
Samaritans.  By  a  sort  of  loose  interpretation  of 
the  fierce  and  direct  words  of  Jesus  Christ  we 
have  narrowed  "the  brotherhood  of  man"  to  a 
dry  figure  of  speech,  something  said  for  the  want 
of  something  better  to  say.  The  Nazarene  might 
have  said  thus  and  so,  but  he  did  not  mean  what 
he  said.  Before  his  plain  words  we  have  set  a 
labyrinth  of  theology,  so  that  the  smartest  of  us 


478  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

cannot  find  our  way  to  the  essential  truth.  When 
the  Bible  was  interpreted  consistently  with 
slavery  it  was  all  right  for  white  persons  and 
black  persons  to  worship  together  sometimes,  but 
it  is  not  best  in  the  case  of  free  Negroes.  One  of 
the  best  missionary  opportunities  ever  lost  was 
the  ex-master's  opportunity  for  the  spiritual  ele- 
vation of  the  ex-slave.  The  separate  church  or- 
ganization is  best  for  the  Negro  race,  but  the 
interest  of  white  churches  should  not  have  been 
so  early  and  so  completely  withdrawn.  The 
Southern  Methodist  Church  did  well  to  keep 
up  a  long-continued  interest  in  its  Negro  mem- 
bership. Many  Negroes  can  be  reached  through 
religion  who  cannot  be  reached  in  any  other  way. 

A  somewhat  similar  opportunity  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  race  was  lost.  Separate  schools,  of 
course,  were  the  only  thing  that  would  work,— 
and  a  statesman  is  never  justified  in  trying  to 
make  a  thing  work  which  he  knows  will  not 
work.  If  the  religious  and  educational  contact 
had  been  maintained,  the  Negro  would  have  been 
greatly  helped  by  the  white  man's  experience  and 
attainment  and  the  white  man  would  have  been 
greatly  blessed  by  really  knowing  and  sympa- 
thizing with  the  best  that  is  in  the  Negro  race. 

The  political  future  of  this  section,  too,  would 
be  much  brighter  if  the  Negro  should  be  trained 
into  a  normal  relation  to  the  politics  of  his  own 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  479 

section  rather  than  shoved  aside  according  to  the 
present  system, — a  system  which  it  is  utterly  im- 
possible to  maintain  forever  or  for  very  long. 

And  what  do  you  suppose  it  is  that  has  caused 
sensible  American  people  to  lose  so  many  golden 
opportunities  and  to  create  such  a  strained,  un- 
natural and  half -barbarous  situation?  It  is  an 
undefined  and  indefinable  something  called  "so- 
cial equality."  It  is  comic  enough  to  make  the 
thoughtless  laugh,  and  tragic  enough  to  make  the 
thoughtful  weep.  What  is  "social  equality"?  I 
do  not  like  to  make  sport  of  the  apparently  deep 
feelings  of  other  people,  but,  seriously,  I  have 
lived  in  the  South  for  twenty-eight  years,  but  I 
have  never  seen  or  heard  a  definition  of  the  term. 
I  have  often  known  white  people  to  say  that  "so- 
cial equality"  is  something  that  they  do  not  want, 
but  that  seems  to  me  to  be  too  broad  a  definition 
to  enable  me  to  tell  it  from  a  rattlesnake,  a  case 
of  yellow  fever  or  a  Negro  President.  What 
does  it  mean?  If  it  means  bad  intercourse  be- 
tween the  races,  then  I  am  with  the  white  man — 
no  "social  equality"  for  me.  If  it  means  all  inter- 
course, both  good  and  bad,  opposition  to  it  is 
futile;  for  some  sort  of  intercourse  between  these 
two  races  there  will  be,  regardless  of  the  wishes 
of  individuals.  The  only  effect  that  the  human 
will  can  produce  is  to  determine  WHAT  KIND 
OF  INTERCOURSE  it  shall  be.  Let  us  have 
relations  of  the  mutually  ennobling  sort. 


480  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

The  next  generation  is  not  bound  to  respect 
our  wishes.  And  the  word  "always"  ought  never 
to  be  used  in  reference  to  the  American  race 
conditions,  especially  where  the  Negro  is  con- 
cerned. What  the  slave-owners  of  1849  called 
perpetual,  the  people  of  1909  call  ancient.  But 
for  the  present  we  are  two  races,  and  all  of  us 
who  are  now  living  can  feel  sure  that  we  shall  die 
and  leave  two  races.  The  claim  for  "natural 
antipathy"  between  the  races  is  not  well  founded. 
An  instinctive  antipathy  would  at  least  be  con- 
sistent. And  I  do  not  need  to  point  out  to  you 
the  inconsistencies  in  the  so-called  natural  an- 
tipathy of  the  races,  especially  when  it  comes  to 
the  "bad  intercourse."  In  some  courts  where 
legal  sexual  intercourse  between  the  races  has 
been  declared  a  statutory  crime,  immoral  sexual 
intercourse  is  hardly  punished  as  a  misdemeanor. 
A  strange  reversal  of  the  laws  of  God  and  nature. 

"Social  equality"  is  a  phrase  to  conjure  with, 
it  is  the  one  invisible  god  to  whom  almost  all 
heads  bow.  It  even  dominates  to  an  extent  the 
thinking  of  the  Negro,  whenever  a  Negro  begins 
to  speak  for  the  rights  of  his  race  he  feels  it 
necessary  to  tell  the  world  that  he  is  not  an 
aspirant  after  "social  equality"  or  a  defender 
thereof. 

And  I  would  not  abate  one  whit  from  the 
white  man's  pride  of  race.  I  would  add  to  it. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  481 

I  would  make  him  so  proud  of  his  own  race  that 
he  would  scorn  to  do  injustice  to  any  other  race. 
I  would  make  him  so  proud  of  his  own  family 
that  he  would  honor  the  very  name  of  family  in 
all  races  and  classes, — so  fond  of  his  own  chil- 
dren that  he  would  concede  a  black  boy  a  chance 
for  life. 

The  Negro's  presence  in  this  country  has  cer- 
tainly created  certain  opportunities  for  both 
races.  I  am  not  discussing  the  question  as  to 
whether  it  was  a  good  thing  on  the  whole,  or  a 
bad  thing  for  both  races,  that  the  Negro  was 
brought  here.  That  is  a  very  foolish  question,— 
for  whether  it  be  answered  in  the  affirmative  or 
in  the  negative,  the  fact  remains  the  same  that 
the  NEGRO  IS  HERE  NOW.  That  would 
have  been  a  profitable  question  to  discuss  pre- 
vious to  1619.  But  now  that  the  Negro  is  here, 
the  only  thing  worth  considering  is,  how  can  we 
make  the  best  of  it,  of  a  bad  bargain,  if  you  will? 
Time  is  worse  than  wasted  in  foolish  wailing 
about  the  fact  that  the  Negro  was  brought  here. 
Spilt  milk  can  sooner  be  gathered  from  sand  into 
the  pail  again  than  the  Negro  race  of  the  United 
States  can  ever  be  gathered  again  into  its  father- 
land,— or  rather  into  its  MOTHERland,  for  the 
FATHERland  of  a  large  part  of  the  race  is 
Europe. 

The  presence  of  the  Negro  in  the  South  offers 

31 


482  HOLM'S   RACE    ASSIMILATION 

to  Southern  industries  a  better  supply  of  labor 
suited  to  those  industries  than  has  any  other 
country  of  similar  industries  anywhere  else  in 
the  world.  We  have  heard  much  talk  of  immi- 
gration but  there  is  no  immigration  from  any- 
where that  will  soon  take  the  Negro's  place 
in  the  South.  To  the  Negro  is  offered  the 
best  opportunity  he  has  anywhere  in  the 
world  for  a  high  degree  of  industrial  efficiency. 

To  the  Christian  Church  is  offered  an  unsur- 
passed opportunity  for  practical  versus  theoretic 
BROTHERHOOD,— or  to  prove  that  the 
whole  thing  is  all  talk. 

To  the  American  Government  is  offered  the 
best  test  of  the  principles  that  underlie  its  foun- 
dation. Or  is  that  all  talk? 

The  Negro  race  is  strong  and  will  grow 
stronger  in  this  country,  thus  offering  to  the 
white  race  its  best  chance  to  measure  its  strength 
by  the  strength  of  another,  and  not  by  the  weak- 
ness of  another,  a  chance  to  be  the  strongest  of 
the  strong,  and  not  merely  the  least  weak  of  the 
weak, — a  real  chance  to  prove  the  white  man's 
real  superiority.  Or  is  that  all  talk? 

WM.  PlCKENS, 

Talladega  College,  Talladega,  Ala. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  483 

ECONOiMIC  LAW  DEMANDS  FREE- 
DOM OF  MARRIAGE 

BY  JAMES  E.  MCGIRT 

Scholar,  Author,  Editor  of  McGirt's  Magazine. 

You  ask  that  I  write  you  a  paper  on  the  sub- 
ject: "Do  you  believe  that  the  illicit  mixing  Of 
the  races  ought  to  be  abolished,  and  a  legal  mar- 
riage provision  take  its  place  in  the  entire  coun- 
try?" and  "Do  you  believe  that  intermarriage, 
instead  of  illicit  mixing,  would  improve  the 
morals  of  both  races? 

While  you  ask  me  to  do  this,  I  must  state  that 
it  comes  in  a  most  inopportune  time,  therefore 
it  is  impossible  'for  me  to  write  on  them  at 
length;  however,  I  shall  state  my  position  in  a 
few  words.  I  shall  approach  the  subject  fairly 
and  squarely  without  expressing  the  opinion  or 
caring  for  the  prejudices  of  black  or  white  men 
and  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  student  of  society. 

The  science  of  economy  teaches  that  economic 
freedom  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  highest 
development  of  any  people,  and  that  a  nation 
which  does  not  give  the  highest  economic  free- 
dom, or  tries  to  interfere  with  that  freedom,  may 
succeed  for  a  time  but  eventually  must  fail  of 
its  highest  development. 

There  are  seven  kinds  of  economic  freedom 
which  are  accepted  by  the  leading  countries,  and 


484 


HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 


JAMES  E.  McGIRT. 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  486 

while  these  are  accepted  by  the  United  States, 
the  Negro  is  excluded  from  some  of  them  and 
especially  from  the  first  and  most  important, 
namely,  freedom  of  marriage  and  association. 
From  this  viewpoint,  it  is  not  hazarding  too 
much  to  say  that  economic  progress  demands 
that  these  limitations  be  done  away  with. 

The  country  cannot  get  the  best  out  of  itself 
or  out  of  the  Negro  so  long  as  these  limitations 
are  allowed.  They  are  un-economic,  therefore 
unnatural  and  despite  laws  and  prejudices, 
MUST  GO.  To  show  how  important  the  law 
is,  let  us  illustrate:  Economy  says  that  "any 
sane  man  and  woman  of  some  character,  if  they 
both  be  willing  without  outside  pressure  on  the 
part  of  the  State,  should  marry,"  in  other  words, 
there  should  be  freedom  of  marriage.  "Negroes 
and  whites  shall  not  marry,"  says  the  law.  Now, 
marriage,  economically  speaking,  is  a  mating  of 
males  and  females,  and  its  chief  purpose  is  to 
increase  and  preserve  the  population.  To  have 
children  is  the  chief  aim  of  marriage  from  the 
viewpoint  of  the  economist.  But  the  law  steps  in 
and  says  that  "there  shall  be  no  marriage  be- 
tween the  colored  and  white  people."  >  But  what 
does  it  accomplish?  Nothing,  only  to  retard  the 
working  of  economic  law.  For  it  indeed  pro- 
hibits marriage  but  does  not  prevent  children. 
The  fact  that  the  race  of  mulattoes  is  constantly 


486  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

increasing  and  increasing  more  today  than  ever 
before,  is  ample  evidence  of  the  impotency  of 
legislative  statutes  to  prohibit  the  mating  of  men 
and  women  of  different  classes  and  the  birth  of 
children  from  their  intercourse. 

This  is  why  I  do  not  advocate  social  equality 
or  amalgamation  or  miscegenation  or  any  other 
such  unnecessary  thing;  for  it  does  no  more  good 
to  advocate  or  oppose  these  than  it  does  to  op- 
pose or  advocate  gravitation  or  evolution  or  the 
course  of  the  stars.  They  are  fixed  by  higher 
laws  than  those  made  by  human  legislation. 

Philadelphia. 


MISCEGENATION  AND  ITS  BANEFUL 
EFFECTS 

BY  BISHOP  ALEXANDER  WALTERS,  A.  M.,  D.  D. 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

One  of  the  greatest  crimes  committed  against 
the  Negro  race  has  been  the  degradation  of  its 
women  by  white  men,  often  of  intelligence, 
wealth  and  influence.  And  the  saddest  part  of 
it  is  that  the  men  of  the  boasted  superior  race 
with  all  the  advantages  in  their  favor,  have  been 
protected  in  this  nefarious  business  by  drastic 
legislation. 


BISHOP  ALEXANDER  WALTERS. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  487 

In  this  Christian  civilization,  this  boasted 
"Home  of  the  brave  and  land  of  the  free,"  one 
whole  section  of  this  land  has  made  every  child 
born  of  a  colored  woman  by  a  white  father  an 
illegitimate  child,  no  matter  how  desirous  the 
parties  are  of  being  united  in  holy  wedlock. 

Laws  which  prohibit  such  marriages  are  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  law  of  God 
as  embodied  in  the  Golden  Rule,  and  they  are 
inimical  to  the  best  interests  of  mankind. 

The  good  people  of  this  country  should  be- 
gin at  once  to  create  sentiment,  where  they  have 
not  done  so,  for  the  repeal  of  such  laws. 

A  wise  Providence  has  overruled  a  great  deal 
of  this  wickedness  to  the  good  of  our  land. 

Some  of  the  brightest  intellects  of  our  country 
are  the  product  of  concubinage.  I  could  name 
some  of  the  greatest  and  most  useful  men  of  our 
country  who  were  and  are  of  illegitimate  birth, 
such  as  Frederick  Douglass,  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington, etc. 

^Amalgamation  between  whites  and  blacks  and 
its  frequency  throughout  the  American  Republic 
are  the  best  arguments  that  can  be  produced 
that  the  white  man  considers  the  black  woman 
his  equal,  and  ought  to  forever  set  at  rest  this 
question  which  every  now  and  then  bobs  up  that 
the  Negro  is  a  beast  and  hasn't  any  soul.  Surely 
white  men  of  intelligence,  wealth  and  influence 


488  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

would  not  have  sexual  intercourse    in    such   a 
wholesale  manner  with  beastsTj 

THESE  LAWS  FORBIDDING  INTERMARRIAGE  OF 
THE  RACES  AND  THE  INJUSTICES  RESULTING 
THEREFROM  ARE  CRIMES  WHICH  ARE  CALLING 
ALOUD  TO  ALMIGHTY  GOD  FOR  VENGEANCE,  AND 
WE  ARE  COMPELLED  TO  SUFFER  AS  A  NATION  UN- 
TIL SUCH  WRONGS  ARE  RIGHTED. 

I  do  not  think  we  ought  longer  to  compromise 
on  this  grave  question,  but  ought  to  begin  a 
crusade  against  it  and  continue  until  the  laws 
are  changed  and  men  and  women  allowed  to 
marry  whomsoever  they  please. 

None  but  Almighty  God  and  the  women  of 
the  Negro  race  know  the  baneful  effects  which 
colored  women  have  to  suffer  by  such  prohibi- 
tory laws.  [Speaking  with  a  colored  woman 
not  long  ago  she  said  there  is  nothing  so  grind- 
ing, so  crushing  as  to  look  into  the  face  of  a 
white  woman  and  have  her  say  by  a  sarcastic 
and  withering  look,  "You  are  nothing  but  a 
'thing'  to  be  used  by  our  men — the  laws  are 
against  vou  and  all  because  of  your  color  and 
race.'^)  " 

I  say  again  that  prohibitory  marriage  laws, 
such  as  I  have  mentioned  above,  are  a  sad  blot 
on  the  escutcheon  of  our  land. 

A.  WALTERS. 

New  York  City. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS 


the  lives  of 
individuals 

as  in  the  lives  of  nations 
there  is  a  central  point 
from  which  radiates  all 
inspiration  to  reach  the 
(contributed for  MS  book.-)  higher  attainments  of 

moral,  mental  and  physical  existence,  or  from 
which  the  tendency  in  motion  is  down  toward 
lethargy  and  degradation,  by  the  relaxing  of 
those  forces  which  lead  in  the  opposite  direction. 
The  previous  social  and  moral  condition  of 
the  Negro  woman,  her  complete  subjugation  to 
the  brute  nature  or  animal  passions  of  men  of  all 
stations  in  the  society  of  both  races,  is  too  well 
known  by  students  of  social  ethics  to  demand  any 
lengthy  discussion  here.  Yet,  as  these  facts  pre- 


490  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

sent  fundamental  relations  to  the  subject  of  this 
contribution,  it  is  really  necessary  to  at  least  pay 
a  passing  notice  to  the  principles  here  involved. 

Slavery,  the  most  bitter  and  destructive  in- 
stitution of  any  government,  the  most  satanic  and 
degrading  influence  with  which  human  society 
has  had  to  do,  formed  and  flourished  in  this 
country  from  .1619  until  the  boys  of  blue  and 
gray  met  upon  the  field  of  mortal  combat  and 
drenched  the  land  in  human  blood. 

The  colored  woman  pulling  through  the  night 
of  slavery  with  hands  chained  to  the  plow,  with 
mind  chained  to  darkness  and  morals  chained  to 
the  wicked  lusts  of  the  South's  frightful  horde 
of  demoralized  white  and  black  men,  found  her- 
self on  the  morn  of  freedom, 

"A  storm-beaten  ark  wildly  hurled, 
O'er  the  whirlpool  of  time 
With  the  wrecks  of  a  world." 

If  in  all  this  land  there  is  a  woman  deserving 
the  very  highest  commendation  of  the  world,  it 
is  the  colored  woman.  She  has  had  the  most  dis- 
couraging obstacles  of  any  woman  in  history 
placed  so  continuously  in  her  pathway,  until  in 
the  words  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe  she  cried 

"Like  that  unhappy  master, 
Whom  unmerciful  disaster 
Follows  fast  and  follows  faster." 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  491 

She  is  climbing  with  unfaltering  steps  the 
rugged  path  that  leads  to  the  sun-kissed  moun- 
tain peak  of  liberty  and  glory,  looking  hopefully 
to  the  right  and  left  for  just  one  ray  of  the  light, 
of  righteousness,  of  justice,  and  encouragement; 
knowing  that  life  is  a  series  of  successive  heights 
to  be  climbed,  the  vantage  of  one  reached  bring- 
ing to  view  another  height  and  a  continued 
stepping  stone  to  its  attainment. 

The  colored  woman,  as  she  is,  when  compared 
with  her  white  sister  who  has  thrown  around 
her  all  the  protection  that  bravery,  courage,  and 
heroism  have  been  able  to  produce,  and  all  the 
wealth,  culture  and  refinement  of  ages  at  her 
feet — represents  a  shipwrecked  mariner  drift- 
ing around  on  the  waves  of  social  darkness,  out 
on  the  sea  of  national  criticism,  bravely  pressing 
on  toward  the  harbor  of  peace  and  higher  moral 
and  intellectual  culture. 

She  stands  today  tempted  and  tried  as  was 
Christ  on  the  Mount,  unaided,  unprotected  by 
the  laws  of  the  land,  working  out  her  own  sal- 
vation, and  the  salvation  of  her  people  whose 
future  connection  with  the  highest  attainments 
of  human  genius  is  as  certain  as  it  .is  that  the 
majestic  Mississippi  will  flow  to  the  gulf  until 

"The  sun  himself  grows  dim  with  age, 
And  Nature  sinks  in  years." 


492  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

She  is  the  only  woman  today,  in  all  this  broad 
land,  of  whom  it  is  not  supposed,  by  a  certain 
class  of  lawmakers  and  officers  of  the  law  of 
many  of  our  states,  that  virtue  and  purity  is 
prayed  for  and  desired  by  her,  as  the  mother  of 
a  great  race  of  future  American  citizens. 

The  question  arises,  therefore,  after  forty-five 
years  of  American  semi-freedom — What  is  the 
present  status  of  the  Negro  woman? 

I  wish  to  say  emphatically  that  the  colored 
woman  is  beyond  all  reasonable  doubts  a  fixity 
in  the  social  economy  of  the  nation;  that  in  re- 
ligion, education  and  moral  reformation  she  is 
contributing  daily  to  the  progress  of  the  greatest 
age  in  the  history  of  man.  The  home,  which  is 
the  foundation  of  good  government,  is  advancing 
from  the  one  room  cabin  to  the  comfortable  cot- 
tage, modern  and  sanitary  in  all  its  appoint- 
ments. The  parlor  contains  the  most  modern 
musical  instruments,  books  on  music,  art,  liter- 
ature and  science.  The  dining  room  and  bed 
chamber  are  neat  and  attractive,  suggestive  of 
the  most  improved  sense;  and  the  whole  home 
shows  a  work  of  improvement  and  progress 
along  all  lines.  The  art  of  music  and  painting, 
fancy-work  and  drapery  have  claimed  such  a 
large  part  of  the  Negro  maidens'  education, 
until  we  now  have  a  refined,  sensitive,  neat-ap- 
pearing woman — indeed,  a  new  woman  with  a 


OR   THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  493 

new  idea.  All  over  the  South  we  now  find 
academies  and  high  schools  whose  curriculums 
are  abreast  of  the  times.  Many  are  especially 
designed  for  everyday  business  and  professional 
usefulness,  the  walls  of  which  are  crowded  with 
an  army  of  colored  girls  thirsting  for  knowledge 
and  anxious  to  undergo  any  honorable  experi- 
ence, to  assume  any  burdensome  responsibility, 
only  to  reach  the  highest  .attainments  in  the 
bounds  of  possible  opportunity. 

The  Negro  woman  as  a  teacher  in  the  com- 
mon and  higher  schools  of  the  South  has  proven 
a  success.  As  a  business  woman  she  surprises 
the  country.  Many  girls  are  now  compounding 
medicine  in  drug  stores  run  by  Negroes,  or  are 
watching  patients  as  trained  nurses,  and  going 
on  the  rostrum  as  lecturers  and  organizers  of 
clubs,  etc.,  whose  purpose  it  is  to  destroy  the 
influence  of  error  and  establish  the  everlasting 
doctrine  of  the  principles  of  truth.  The  educa- 
tion of  the  Negro  woman  along  moral  and  in- 
tellectual lines  has  indeed  been  gratifying. 
*  *  *  * 

She  has  had  the  saddest  experience  of  any 
mortal  in  the  world's  history.  She  has  passed 
through  that  dark,  immoral,  rapacious  age,  when 
virtue  to  her  was  a  perfect  stranger  and  morality 
sounded  like  a  mockery.  She  was  forced  in  some 
cases  to  be  brutalized  without  the  hope  of  redress 


494  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

for  the  wrongs  heaped  upon  her,  thereby  sowing 
the  seeds  of  immorality  and  degeneracy,  and 
committing  (not  at  first  by  voluntary  wishes) 
the  unpardonable  crime  against  law  and  society. 
But  thank  God  her  time  has  come;  just  beyond 
the  hills  of  night  we  faintly  see  the  daylight 
breaking.  She  will  lift  her  voice  and  be  heard, 
and  demand  her  rights  as  an  American  woman. 
[Sooner  or  later,  by  renouncing  the  horrible 
practice  of  illicit  mixing  of  the  past,  she  will  be 
respected,  regardless  of  her  color.  There  is  al- 
ready a  decided  concert  of  action  on  the  part  of 
Negro  women  everywhere,  to  remove  the  past 
with  all  its  evil  influences  and  illicit  unions  with 
white  men  of  every  class;  and  to  regard  any 
approach  of  white  men  as  an  unpardonable  af- 
front to  any  decent  woman.  Unless  the  laws  are 
so  reformed,  she  may  demand  a  legal  union  in 
spite  of  themj 

At  the  present  rate  of  education  and  moral 
reformation  she  will  some  day  reach  the  highest 
round  in  the  ladder  of  womanly  womanhood, 
virtue  and  intelligence. 

Let  us  start  a  movement  today  that  may  revo- 
lutionize the  laws  of  some  of  our  un-American 
states;  revolutionize  public  sentiment.  "Ah," 
you  say,  "you  are  ahead  of  the  times!  That  is 
a  perilous  task!"  I  admit  that  it  is.  Better  a 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  495 

perilous  task  to  individuals  than  further  degrade 
the  manhood  of  the  white _jace  and  the  woman- 
hood of  the  colored  race.^  Somebody  must  take 
the  lead.  This  horrible  tide  of  immorality  must 
be  more  successfully  checked.  THE  COL- 
ORED WOMEN  OF  THIS  COUNTRY 
MUST  BE  COMPLETELY  EMANCIPA- 
TED FROM  THE  THRALLDOM  OF  THE 
PAST. 

I  may  be  criticised,  yes,  severely  so,  for  the 
stand  I  have  taken  in  this  matter;  not  only  by 
members  of  the  white  race  but  by  my  own  as 
well.  However,  that  is  a  small  matter  to  me, 
for  every  man  and  woman  who  has  ever  ad- 
vanced a  new  idea,  or  has  advanced  the  interests 
of  all  the  people,  have  always  been  severely 
criticised  by  friend  and  foe  alikey 

Just  as  William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  when  he 
heralded  to  the  world  the  great  issue  of  freeing 
the  slaves.  He  was  told  his  was  an  impossible 
task;  that  the  state  of  the  country  did  not  admit 
it;  that  he  would  find  opposition  everywhere, 
north,  south,  east  and  west.  Did  he  give  up  in 
despair?  No.  What  did  he  do?  He  buckled 
on  the  armor  of  manhood,  truth  and  justice,  went 
out  on  the  battle  field  of  injustice,  hatred  and 
oppression  of  a  downtrodden  race,  and  won  the 
victory  as  did  David  of  old,  when  he  went  forth 
and  slew  the  giant,  Goliath.  The  true  and  good 


496  HOLM'S  RACE  \SSIMILATION 

men  and  women  of  both  races  must  go  forth  and 
slay  the  great  Goliath  of  moral  depravity  between 
the  races,  and  bring  about  a  condition  that  will 
give  justice  to  the  colored  woman,  and  protect 
her  as  the  mother  of  a  race  and  as  a  woman. 

Before  our  great  country  can  reach  that  broad 
plane  of  fairness  and  justice  to  all  its  citizens, 
without  regard  to  race  or  color,  the  statesman- 
ship of  the  nation  must  rise  pre-eminent  to  the 
unholy  and  sordid  ambitions  of  politicians;  must 
rise  above  the  pitiful  weakness  of  human  preju- 
dice, into  that  bright  haven  of  sunlight  and 
righteousness,  where  men  can  look  justice 
squarely  in  the  face,  and  declare  from  hill-top 
and  mountain  peak  that  right  is  a  principle  as 
bright  as  the  face  of  the  sun,  as  everlasting  as  the 
throne  of  Jehovah. 

Then  will  the  colored  woman  shake  off  her 
mantle  of  semi-slavery  and  take  her  proper  place 
in  the  world's  society;  contributing  to  the  glory 
of  Christian  civilization,  and  expand  all  reforms 
until  the  influence  of  peace,  happiness  and  com- 
plete freedom  shall  spread  and  cover  this  broad 
land  as  the  waters  cover  the  mighty  deep. 

Then,  when  the  consumation  of  all  time  is  near 
at  hand,  and  the  lion  is  ready  to  lay  down  with 
the  lamb,  God    grant    that    I  may   look    upon 
yonder  deep  blue  sky  and  see  in  letters  of  gold— 
"ONE  GOD,  ONE  FLAG,  ONE  PEOPLE." 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  497 

SOME  THOUGHTS  FOR  BOTH  RACES 
TO  PONDER  OVER 

BY  ANNA  D.  BORDEN 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

It  is  strange  and  peculiarly  interesting  how 
some  of  our  leading  women  claim  they  are  igno- 
rant of  existing  social  conditions.  If  we  are 
standing  sure  and  steadfast,  if  we  are  so  far  re- 
moved from  unpleasant  social  conditions  that 
there  need  be  no  alarm  sounded,  "What  meaneth 
then  this  bleating  of  the  sheep  in  mine  ears,  and 
the  lowing  of  the  oxen  which  I  hear?"  What 
meaneth  then  the  many  thousands  of  mulattoes 
annually  born  in  the  black  race  of  the  South? 
[Even  some  of  those  who  claim  to  be  entirely 
ignorant  of  these  conditions  are  mulattoes  and 
quadroons  themselves,  and  need  to  investigate 
why  they  are  thus,  and  from  whence  came  their 
foreign  blood  ?J  I  am  sure  they  will  find  food 

for  thought. 

*     *     * 

I  have  heard  some  of  our  leading  men  proudly 
state,  "I  am  three-fourths  white,  only  one-fourth 
black,"  or,  "my  father  is  white,  therefore  I  am 
only  one-half  Negro."  If  that  be  true,  please 
explain  the  conditions  under  which  you  became 
three-fourths  or  one-half  white?  In  what  atti- 
tude will  that  place  the  dearest  person  on  earth 

32 


498  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

to  you?  Was  she  legally  united  to  your  father? 
Do  you,  as  her  child,  lay  a  claim  to  legal  inter- 
marriage? Remember,  our  parents  cannot  give 
us  what  they  do  not  possess. 


*     * 


The  leaders  of  the  race,  both  men  and  women, 
are  strangely,  yes,  deathly  silent  along  reform 
lines  of  this  kind.  [Some  will  readily  condemn 
the  mother  of  a  mulatto  yet  marry  that  same 
mother's  daughter  and  feel  immensely  proud 
of  their  yellow  or  white  complexion.  If  you 
condemn  the  mother  for  illegal  union  condemn 
also  the  child  of  illegal  amalgamated  blood,  and 
illegally  brought  into  our  race  and  society.  If 
you  are  proud  of  your  black  face  do  not  amal- 
gamate with  a  yellow  or  white  complexioned  col- 
ored woman  and  thereby  "degrade"  your  off- 
spring with  foreign  blood,  and  vice  versa] 

A  few  drops  of  Negro  blood  does  not  make  a 
Caucasian  a  Negro,  no  more  than  a  few  drops 
of  Caucasian  blood  makes  a  Negro  white.  It 
is  inconsistent  and  cowardly  to  condemn  amal- 
gamation and  then  amalgamate  at  the  same  time. 
"But,"  you  say  "the  child  is  not  to  blame."  I 
do  not  claim  it  is;  but  when  a  thing  is  wrong  in 
one  place  it  is  wrong  in  another;  and  if  you  will 
sit  quietly  for  just  a  short  while  and  think  deeply 
over  this  matter,  you  will  agree  with  me  that 
there  is  something  radically  wrong  with  our 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  499 

race  and  the  society  of  the  white  race,  and  that 
a  thorough  reformation  is  needed  to  raise  the 
Negro  woman  to  a  higher  plane  of  truth  and  vir- 
tue, and  responsible,  recognized  womanhood. 

*     *     * 

j  "What!  would  you,  a  Negro  woman,  advocate 
amalgamation?"  I  do  not.  Amalgamation 
needs  no  advocacy^  That  process  has  long 
taken  care  of  itself.  When  you  glance  over  this 
race  of  ours  you  will  admit  this,  I  am  sure.  I 
advocate  a  reform  to  legalize  it,  or  condemn  it 
altogether,  although  such  condemnation  avails 
nothing.  As  a  race  we  cannot  longer  silently 
endure  the  curse  which  this  illicit  mixing  en- 
genders. 

Every  man  and  woman  should  enjoy  the  God- 
given  privilege  of  choosing  whom  they  will  for 
their  life  companion,  whether  the  person  chosen 
be  white  or  colored.  No  colored  man  or  woman 
should  be  condemned  by  our  race  if  they  find 
and  choose  their  affinity  in  the  white  race,  if 
there  be  a  mutual  consent  between  them,  and  if 
they  can  legally  obtain  such  a  union  anywhere 
in  the  world.  It  is  their  business  and  not  the 
people's,  if  they  are  sane  and  responsible  citi- 
zens. 

#     #     # 

/^Sortie  of  our  leaders  claim  that  only  the  lower 
element  of  both  races  crave  for  mixing.  With 
them  I  cannot  agreej 


500  HOLM'S  RACE  ASSIMILATION 

^Frederick  Douglass,  the  greatest  statesman  the 
race  has  produced,  with  a  race  of  all  colors  to 
choose  from,  stepped  over  the  line  and  took  unto 
himself  a  white  woman,  thereby  proving  to  the 
world  his  beHef  in  complete  freedom  from  race 
prejudice — freedom,  individually  as  well  as  col- 
lectively?J  That  was  his  individual  choice  and 
by  the  laws  of  God  he  had  a  right  to  choose 

whom  he  desired. 

*     *     * 

A  great  majority  of  the  substantial  class  of 
colored  women  believe  as  I  do  along  this  line, 
although  they  may  only  possess  a  vague  idea  of 
what  ought  to  be  and  may  be  done  to  alleviate 
our  condition.  We  have  a  number  of  letters 
bearing  upon  this  subject,  written  by  colored 
women  who  have  had  experience  enough  to 
know  that  a  legal  union  with  the  opposite  race 
would  at  once  lift  our  womanhood  out  of  the 
mire  and  clay  into  which  we  have  been  sunk  by 
the  lusts  of  men.  The  horde  of  immoral  men 
in  the  South  would  hesitate  to  accost  and  insult 
a  decent  colored  woman  on  the  streets  and  else- 
where, if  she  were  equally  protected  by  law  with 
her  white  sister. 

We  have  not  space  to  submit  in  whole  the  let- 
ters in  our  possession,  written  to  us  by  colored 
women,  but  we  will  quote  a  few  paragraphs 
from  several.  One  woman  says : 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  501 

believe  the  colored  woman  cannot  rise  un- 
til she  demands  recognition,  and  a  legal  union 
with  her  paramour,  be  he  white  or  black.'j  She 
also  says:  "To  social  equality,  will  say — that 
white  men  give  the  colored  women  social  equal- 
ity in  the  dark,  and  it  is  the  Negro  woman's  duty 
to  rise  and  DEMAND  a  legal  union." 

Another  woman  says:  "I  think  we  should  be 
married  to  a  white  man  that  wants  us,  the  same 
as  a  white  woman.  Why  do  white  men  want  us 
if  they  don't  want  us  to  keep  house  for  them  and 
have  a  home  with  them  and^raise  our  children 
in  a  decent,  married  way?"  |J[  know  white  men 
are  not  all  to  blame.  So  many  of  our  colored 
women  and  girls  in  towns  are  after  white  men 
to  get  their  money.  That's  all  they  care  for 
them;  and  they  think  we  are  all  alike,  but  we 
are  not.  Many  of  us  want  good  homes  to  take 
care  of,  and  some  one  to  love  and  care  for 

One  writer  says:  "I  am  a  colored  woman 
who  has  never  had  the  least  inclination  toward 
a  white  man,  but  I  know  that  we  could  only  mix 
through  a  demoralizing  method.  I  don't  be- 
lieve in  being  unlawfully  mixed  up  with  any 
man,  white  or  black;  but  do  think  that  it  was 
intended  from  the  creation  that  we  marry.  As 
the  case  is  today,  there  is  no  law  to  protect  us  in 
marrying  a  white  man.  *  *  [~I  truly  believe 
it  (intermarriage)  will  help  each  race  to  be  a 


502  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

better  people,  and  s|pp  much  of  the  inhuman 
things  that  now  exist.j 

Another  one  writes :  i"I  feel  that  if  we  could 
be  equally  protected  by  law  with  white  women, 
many  of  us  would  prefer  white  men,  because  we 
know  very  well  that  our  race  can  only  be  really 
improved  and  elevated  morally  that  way/|  etc., 

etc. 

*     *     * 

[From  all  the  bother,  heartache  and  sorrow 
the  white  men  give  the  colored  women  through- 
out the  country,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  must  be 
something  fascinating  about  us  that  they  fail  to 
find  in  women  of  their  own  race;  yet  it  seems 
that  many  of  their  own  women  appear  charm- 
ing and  attractive.  There  must  be  something 
really  valuable  about  us,  for  from  all  appear- 
ances their  affection  for  us  is  in  most  cases  gen- 
uine. A  poem  written  to  a  yellow  Negro  girl 
by  a  talented  white  man  fell  into  our  hands, 
which,  we  believe,  testifies  to  this  fact  without 
further  arguments  being  necessary  here.  The 
author  has  consented  to  publish  it  on  the  follow- 
ing page  with  an  appropriate  illustration. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS 


503 


YOU'RE  the  only  one  most  precious, 

In  this  weary,  toilsome  strife; 

When  you  gather  summer  flowers, 

Gather  one  into  my  life, 

Let  my  soul  attune  and  sing  it, 

You  are  sweeter  than  a  rose ; 

But  the  color  line  divides  us — 

How  sad  my  heart,  nobody  knows,  nobody  knows! 


504  HOLM'S   RACE    ASSIMILATION 

OH  !  pray  tell  me,  little  treasure, 

Is  there  sure  no  sweet  relief? 

Is  the  way  closed,  can  it  open, 

Are  we  barred  by  our  belief? 

Must  I  depart — leave  you  alone — 

Or  this  matter  right  dispose? 

For  a  color  line  divides  us — 

How  sad  my  heart,  nobody  knows,  nobody  knows! 

YOU  are  a  bright  little  colored  girl, 

One  who  my  soul  can  adore. 

If  I  would  say  good-bye  to  you, 

I  ne'er  would  see  you  any  more; 

Would  you  be  glad,  I  wonder, 

My  little  yellow  rose  ? 

For  a  color  line  divides  us —  — 

How  sad  my  heart,  nobody  knows,  nobody  knows !  I 


THE  COLORED  WOMAN  ON  THE 
PLANTATION 

AND  How  SHE  is  RAISED  BY  PROGRESS  MADE 

BY  SOPHIA  COX  JOHNSON 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

We  are  in  the  Black  Belt  where  it  is  said  that 
for  every  white  person  you  meet  there  are  four 
colored.  On  every  hand  the  one-roomed  cabin 
appears  utterly  filled  with  children  who  peep  at 
you  from  behind  half-open  doors  and  shutter 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  506 

windows,  while  father  is  plowing  and  mother 
and  the  older  ones  are  "howin  in  de  fiel." 

Some  eighteen  years  ago  the  idea  of  gather* 
ing  the  mothers  of  children  taught  in  the  mis- 
sion school  together  and  forming,  what  is  known 
as  the  Mothers'  Meeting,  was  advanced  by  a 
worker  who  had  been  sent  as  a  missionary.  We 
are  told  by  those  competent  to  judge  that  a 
stream  can  rise  no  higher  than  its  source — hence, 
to  have  intelligent,  honest  children  the  parents 
must  be  reached  in  some  manner. 

After  considerable  visiting  and  agitation,  dur- 
ing which  time  some  had  gotten  over  their  fear 
of  "meetin  dem  teachers,"  the  organization  was 
formed.  Lessons  were  assigned  them  in  read- 
ing and  writing  and  plans  were  outlined  for  dis- 
cussing subjects  dear  to  .every  woman's  heart. 
Can  we  understand  enough  of  their  condition 
to  sympathize  with  these  mothers;  who  had 
come  from  homes  where  nothing  was  known 
save  "plowin  and  howin  cotton,  corn,  'taters, 
sugarcane  and  penders,"  often  until  Saturday 
noon,  then  knocking  off  to  do  the  family  wash- 
ing? No  time  to  cook  a  decent  meal  even  if  it 
were  known  how. 

These  mothers  from  the  time  they  were  large 
enough  to  hoe  in  their  father's  crop  had  the  am- 
bition only  to  be  the  lead-hand  in  the  field.  And 
when  married  they  had  taken  their  turn  at  the 


506  HOLM'S   RACE    ASSIMILATION 

plow  and  scattering  fertilizer  and  hoeing,  often 
carrying  the  baby  to  the  field  and  covering  it 
under  a  shade  tree  while  the  work  went  on  until 
the  bell  rang  for  noon.  When  all  had  gotten 
out,  she  must  gather  and  cook  her  greens  or 
fried  meat'and  bread  ere  the  bell  rang  for  return 
to  work. 

Their  social  life,  if  such  it  might  be  called, 
consisted  during  the  leisure  season  of  tramping 
from  house  to  house  eating  peanuts  and  sugar 
cane,  roasting  potatoes  and  gossiping,  with 
merry  quiltings  at  which  time  young  and  old 
frolicked  together  for  more  than  half  the  night. 

As  for  the  men,  after  the  strenuous  days  of 
plowing  and  planting  were  over,  they  were  con- 
stantly hunting,  squirrels  by  day  and  raccoons 
and  opossums  by  night.  Even  in  their  churches 
religion  consisted  of  learning  the  latest  mourn, 
a  kind  of  wierd  sound  echoing  and  re-echoing 
through  the  windowless  shack,  and  trying  to 
see  who  could  shout  the  loudest  and  hold  out 
the  longest. 

Some  women  there  were,  too,  who  came  from 
homes  where  the  father  of  the  children  was  not 
the  husband,  and  the  mother  was  known  as  the 
cook  of  that  particular  man,  while  some  mothers 
who  as  real  wives,  looked  askance  at  their  neigh- 
bors, because  their  husbands  were  as  often  at  one 
house  as  at  another. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  507 


SOPHIA  COX   JOHNSON. 


508  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

And  what  differences  in  the  color  of  the  fam- 
ilies! Even  as  we  so  often  achingly  notice  in 
many  places.  Brothers  and  sisters  from  the 
darkest  shades  of  ebony  to  the  fairest  of  the  fair 
calling  the  same  woman  mother!  Any  who  get 
close  to  humanity,  either  on  the  plantation  or  in 
the  city,  see  enough  to  fully  realize  the  condi- 
tions. Such  then  were  the  homes  from  whence 
these  women  came  to  learn  to  read  and  write; 
to  hear  talks  concerning  their  home  life;  how 
to  wash  dishes;  the  necessity  for  having  more 
than  one  room  and  how  the  house  should  be 
cleaned  before  going  to  work;  care  of  the 
garden,  chickens  and  cows,  together  with  raising 
their  children. 

Let  us  now  notice  some  results  of  this  work 
among  the  mothers. 

Several  years  later  as  we  chance  to  be  passing 
this  way,  we  see  a  gray  haired  woman  carrying 
a  large  printed  Bible  on  her  way  to  the  Mothers' 
School.  She  has  learned  to  read  the  precious 
Word  which  is  the  leading  study,  and  many 
verses  have  been  committed  to  memory.  On 
entering  her  home  we  find  in  addition  to  that 
Bible,  the  "Life  of  Sister  Moore"  and  her  book 
"For  Mother."  There  is  a  large  class  of  such 
women  now  and  several  letters  have  been 
laboriously  written  to  the  same  Sister  Moore, 
and  the  hearts  of  the  writers  gladdened  by 


OR  THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS          509 

answers  to  them.  What  means  this  addition  to 
the  house?  One  of  the  mothers  has  been  seen 
cutting  logs  to  build  another  room.  On  visiting 
another  we  find  her  bedroom  divided  by  a  cur- 
tain, thus  providing  another  room  for  the  chil- 
dren; still  another  has  taken  a  box  and  with  a 
curtain  in  front  and  shelves  inside  has  a  com- 
modious closet  for  storing  away  loose  articles 
otherwise  thrown  under  the  bed  or  behind  the 
door. 

At  the  close  of  the  sessions  of  these  winter 
schools  for  women  open  performances  are  given 
by  the  scholars  who  recite,  read  essays  and  de- 
bate on  subjects  pertaining  to  the  home-life, 
often  inviting  the  fathers  to  join.  These 
mothers  are  now  better  members  of  the  church. 
By  learning  to  read  the  Word  of  God  and  com- 
mitting it  to  memory,  they  are  able  to  follow  the 
minister  in  his  preaching  and  help  greatly  in 
selecting  intelligent  men  as  pastors.  They  pay 
their  church  dues  willingly  and  aid  in  the  re- 
pairs and  painting  of  their  own  churches.  As 
for  education,  they  resolve  that  their  children 
shall  have  what  they  see  they  failed  to  get.  Even 
those  who  will  not  anger  the  ministers  of  the 
church,  who  have  forbidden  their  attending  the 
mothers'  meetings  because  led  by  members  of 
another  denomination,  will  do  double  duty  in 
the  field  that  their  children  may  be  educated  by 


510  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

competent  teachers.  Time  enough  has  passed 
to  show  the  results  of  such  efforts  on  the  chil- 
dren. Many  of  these  plantation  mothers  are 
made  happy  by  the  receipt  of  letters  containing 
gifts  of  money  from  daughters  who  are  teach- 
ing. These  daughters,  many  of  whom  have 
been  trained,  even  in  the  homes  of  the  mission- 
aries, having  been  turned  over  to  them  from 
their  own  homes,  contribute  their  share  to  the 
uplift  of  the  rest  of  the  family  of  children. 

What  is  the  social  standing  now?  Homes  con- 
sisting of  from  three  to  five  rooms  are  neatly 
kept,  for  what  planter  would  want  to  part  with 
a  tenant  who  respects  himself  and  family?  So 
he  thus  provides  homes  as  demanded  by  pro- 
gress made. 

Instrumental  and  vocal  music  may  be  heard 
after  a  hard  day's  labor;,  socials  with  quiet 
games  and  refreshments  are  held  by  the  young 
people,  and  fathers  and  mothers  are  rapidly 
learning  to  converse  on  intelligent  subjects. 

And  now  concerning  those  yet  living  in  sin. 
The  members  of  this  same  mothers'  meeting 
during  the  past  year  together  with  other  good 
women  not  members,  signed  up  a  petition  ask- 
ing the  landlord  to  help  them  in  some  way  to  rid 
the  plantation  of  such  transgressors  of  the  law. 
He  looking  upon  it  with  favor,  decided  with 
them  that  for  the  sake  of  those  who  do  live  right 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  511 

and  are  endeavoring  to  train  their  children,  as 
well  as  for  the  children  born  in  sin,  something 
should  be  done. 

So  though  ignorance  and  denominational 
prejudice  are  rife,  yet  now  and  then,  we  may  see 
evidences  of  the  Day  dawning  on  the  plantation. 

SOPHIA  Cox  JOHSON, 

Millers  Ferry,  Ala. 


ALL   HUMAN   BLOOD   IS  ALIKE— IN- 
TERMARRIAGE 

BY  BISHOP  J.  W.  SMITH,  D.  D. 

(Contributed  for  this  book.) 

That  the  Negro  is  one  of  the  great  races  of 
the  human  family  is  a  fact  as  solid  as  Gibraltar. 
Why  Jehovah  made  men  of  various  colors  is  not 
only  unexplainable  but  His  business.  It  is  a 
fact  beyond  truthful  contradiction  that  He  did 
not  make  a  white  Adam,  a  black  Adam,  a  red 
Adam  and  a  yellow  Adam. 

All  mankind  descended  from  one  Adam  and 
Eve.  The  origin  of  the  human  family  is  one, 
for  the  Apostle  Paul  in  Acts,  17:26  says  God 
"hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for 
to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth."  After 
careful  chemical  examination  of  the  blood  of 
human  beings  and  that  of  animals  the  scientists 


512 


HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 


BISHOP  J.  W.  SMITH,  D.  D. 


OR   THE  FADING   LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  513 

have  found  a  difference;  but  in  the  blood  of 
human  beings,  irrespective  of  color,  they  declare 
they  have  found  no  difference  whatever. 

The  late  and  famous  Dr.  T.  Dewitt  Talmage 
agreeing  with  Paul  says,  "That  is  if  for  some 
reason  general  phlebotomy  were  ordered,  and 
standing  in  a  row  were  an  American,  an  English- 
man, a  Scotchman,  an  Italian,  a  Frenchman,  a 
German,  a  Norwegian,  an  Icelander,  a  Spaniard, 
a  Negro,  a  Russian,  and  these  and  repre- 
sentatives of  all  other  nationalities  bared  their 
right  arm  and  a  lancet  were  stuck  into  it,  the 
blood  let  out  would  have  the  same  characteris- 
tics, for  it  would  be  red,  complex,  fibrine, 
globulins,  chlorine  and  contain  sulphuric  acid, 
potassium,  phosphate  of  magnesia  and  so  on. 
All  the  scientific  doctors,  allopathic,  homeo- 
pathic, hydropathic  and  electic  would  also  agree 
with  Paul's  declaration  on  Mars  Hill.  The 
countenances  of  the  five  races  of  the  human  fam- 
ily may  be  different  as  a  result  of  climate  or  edu- 
cation or  habits,  but  the  blood  is  the  same  and 
indicates  that  they  all  had  one  origin." 

Any  one  who  doubts  the  truthfulness  of  the 
foregoing  facts  simply  pushes  his  reason  to  the 
back  of  his  mind  and  gives  imagination,  igno- 
rance and  prejudice  full  swing.  Colorphobia  is 
the  offspring  of  the  devil  and  is  born  in  hell! 
While  thousands  of  white  people  admire  colors 

33 


514  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

of  all  kinds,  admire  a  black  horse,  a  black  cat, 
a  black  dress,  yet  when  black  is  seen  in  a  Negro, 
it  becomes  as  detestable  to  them  as  the  gates  of 
hell  or  a  hissing  serpent!  Why?  Because  they 
look  upon  black  in  a  human  being  as  a  badge  of 
inferiority.  If  their  foresight  were  as  good  and 
clear  as  their  hindsight,  so  as  to  let  sentiment 
give  way  to  common  sense  they  would  at  once 
see  that  black  is  no  more  a  disgrace  in  a  human 
being  than  in  an  animal  or  clothes. 

A  Negro  may  be  as  black  as  Egyptian  dark- 
ness, which  was  said  to  be  so  dark  and  thick  as 
to  be  felt  with  your  fingers,  but  if  he  has  intelli- 
gence and  moral  character,  he  is  as  honorable 
in  the  sight  of  God  as  the  whitest  person  with 
intelligence  and  character  that  walks  this  earth. 
Thomas  Jefferson  was  right  when  he  wrote  in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  that  "God  cre- 
ated all  men  free  and  equal."  That  does  not 
mean  that  they  are  equal  physically,  in  mental 
equipment  and  wealth,  but  that  they  are  equal 
in  the  sight  of  God  and  righteous  civil  law  in 
their  inalienable  rights  to  "life,  liberty  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness."  If  God  created  all  men 
free  and  equal,  and  all  colors  are  alike  honor- 
able in  the  sight  of  God,  no  race  because  of  a 
lighter  complexion  or  any  other  advantage  has 
any  right  to  rule  or  enslave  the  Negro  because 
he  is  black.  Every  inch  of  progress  made  by 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  515 

the  black  race  in  this  and  foreign  lands  has  been 
similar  to  the  progress  made  by  all  other  races 
which  climbed  from  ignorance  to  enlighten- 
ment, and  this  proves  conclusively  the  common 
origin  of  the  races,  and  logically  shows  that  the 
black  race  is  entitled  to  enjoy  the  same  rights 
and  privileges  that  other  races  enjoy. 

I  have  been  asked  if  I  believe  that  amalgarrxa- 
tion  or  miscegenation  between  the  white  and 
black  races  will  solve  the  Negro  problem.  No 
sir.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  amalgamation  or 
miscegenation  between  human  beings.  The  de- 
finition of  each  word  means  to  mix,  intermingle. 
Since  the  entire  human  race  has  been  made  of 
one  blood,  there  can  be  no  mixing.  If  a  human 
being  and  an  animal  were  to  associate  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  God  would  mean  death  to 
both  man  and  beast,  and  according  to  the  law  of 
the  land,  would  mean  fine  and  imprisonment, 
that  would  be  amalgamation,  for  all  doctors  and 
scientists  unanimously  agree  that  the  blood  of 
human  beings  and  beasts  differ.  Where  there 
is  amalgamation  or  a  mixing  of  different  bloods, 
no  offspring  result. 

If  white  and  black  people  cohabit,  children 
are  born,  and  this  is  incontrovertible  proof  that 
the  black  race  is  not  a  beast,  did  not  descend 
from  the  ape  or  monkey,  but  is  of  the  same 
blood  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  other  races  and 


516  HOLM'S   RACE    ASSIMILATION 

belongs  to  the  universal  equality  of  the  human 
family  of  which  Adam  is  their  ancestor  and  Eve 
their  ancestress. 

While  I  would  not  marry  outside  of  my  race, 
yet  I  consider  it  entirely  within  the  range  of 
propriety  to  say  that  I  register  no  protest  against 
intermarriage,  since  the  Negro  race  is  made  of 
the  same  blood  as  the  other  four  human  races. 
The  Bible  does  not  prohibit  it  and  civil  law 
made  by  that  class  of  prejudiced  and  hateful 
lawmakers  who  diligently  use  the  muck  brush 
to  besmear  filth  over  the  good  name  and" 
progress  of  the  black  race  has  no  right  to  regu- 
late the  affections  of  human  beings.  Abraham, 
Jacob's  sons,  Moses,  Boaz,  David  and  Solomon 
intermarried.  Moses  married  an  Ethiopian 
woman  and  when  his  prejudiced  relatives 
"kicked"  about  it,  Jehovah  smote  the  "kickers" 
with  leprosy.  "What  God  (not  civil  law)  hath 
joined  together  (Matthew  19:4)  let  no  man 
put  asunder."  From  Noah's  day  until  the 
present  time  the  five  races  have  been  mingling 
and  marrying. 

It  is  better  to  intermarry  than  to  practice  the 
so-called  amalgamation  or  miscegenation  which 
when  boiled  down  to  its  quintessence  is  nothing 
but  fornication  and  adultery  between  unprin- 
cipled white  and  black  people.  Amalgamation 
is  the  actual  odor  of  this  unsavory  kettle  of  fish, 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  517 

and  to  argue  the  reverse  would  be  as  absurd  as 
it  would  be  for  a  man  to  shut  his  eyes  on  a  lamp 
and  try  to  turn  his  eyes  inward  to  find  out 
whether  there  were  any  image  painted  on  the 
retina.  The  best  and  surest  remedy  to  break  up 
this  lust,  lewdness,  paramour  and  sexual  inter- 
course business  which  goes  on  yet  between  the 
lower  strata  of  the  white  and  black  races  is  mar- 
riage; and  since  there  is  not  one  precept  in  the 
Bible  forbidding  white  and  colored  marrying, 
these  words  in  Hebrews,  13:  4,  then  come  with 
double  force:  "Marriage  is  honorable  in  all, 
and  the  bed  undefiled:  but  whoremongers  and 
adulterers  God  will  judge." 

Rather  than  violate  the  moral  law  of  God 
which  applies  alike  to  all  persons  or  races,  the 
foundation  of  that  law  being  justice,  and  feeling 
that  no  prejudiced  relative  or  friend  has  any- 
thing to  do  with  their  affections,  each  one  hav- 
ing married  to  suit  himself  or  herself,  there  are 
living  hundreds  of  white  and  colored  people  hap- 
pily married,  living  lovingly  together  in  cities 
like  Washington,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Bos- 
ton and  Chicago;  and  voices  of  fair  play  and 
common  justice  of  those  who  have  come  into 
heritage  of  a  nobler  view  of  this  and  kindred 
subjects,  relative  to  the  colored  people,  have  not 
become  sufficiently  loud  enough  yet  to  ring  out 
like  a  fire  alarm  in  the  late  hours  of  night.  The 


518  HOLM'S   RACE    ASSIMILATION 

following  press  association  item  is  an  instance 
published  recently  in  the  leading  white  news- 
papers of  the  country,  of  a  prominent  Southern 
white  man  who  rather  than  live  in  adultery 
with  my  aunt  honorably  and  legally  married 
her. 


WED  NEGRESS  LEGALLY 

Death  of  White  Man  Recalls  Remarkable  Case 
in  North  Carolina. 

(Special  to  Washington  Herald.) 

Fayetteville,  N.  C.,  Sept  17. — G.  Thornton, 
a  prominent  and  wealthy  Republican  politician 
in  reconstruction  days  and  who,  by  military 
authority,  married  Elsie  Hargrove,  a  Negro 
woman,  in  1866,  and  has  since  lived  as  a  mem- 
ber of  his  wife's  race,  died  at  his  home  here  to- 
day. 

The  marriage  of  Thornton  to  a  negress  is  the 
only  case  of  miscegenation  of  record  in  North 
Carolina,  so  far  as  known.  The  marriage,  after 
being  allowed  by  military  authority  of  the  dis- 
trict, was  legalized  by  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion, which  met  two  years  later.  Thornton,  who 
was  eighty-five  years  of  age,  is  survived  by  his 
wife  and  five  children.  He  will  be  buried  from 
the  leading  Negro  church  in  Fayetteville." 
Washington,  D.  C. 


OR  THE  FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  519 

THE  AFRO-AMERICAN,  AS  HE  WAS, 
NOW  IS  AND  WILL  BE 

How  HE  Is  BLEACHING  AND  WILL  BECOME 
SOCIALLY  EQUAL 

BY  REV.  J.  W.  WOOD,  D.  D. 

Pastor  of  A.  M.  E.  Zion  (State. St.)  Church,  Mobile,  Ala. 
(Contributed  for  this  book) 

I.  My  purpose  is  to  discuss  the  Afro-Ameri- 
can Negro  as  he  was,  as  he  is  now,  and  as  he  will 
be  in  the  future;  his  social  relations  to  other 
races  than  his  own,  and  the  final  end  of  the 
present-day  "bickering." 

During  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  years 
the  Negro  was  a  slave  to  his  white  brother,  and 
during  this  long  period  of  severe  hardship  and 
oppression  he  was  not  allowed  to  read  or  write. 
This  was  the  white  man's  law,  and  if  a  Negro 
was  found  with  a  book  he  was  severely  punished. 
The  poor  Negro  was  ignorant  and  was  kept  in 
ignorance  for  the  sake  of  the  institution  of 
slavery.  In  those  days  of  his  sore  affliction  the 
Negro  woman  was  seduced,  assaulted  and  rav- 
ished by  the  white  man.  Negro  women  gave 
birth  to  mulatto  children.  This  practice,  on  the 
part  of  the  white  man,  continued  throughout  the 
shameful  and  disgraceful  period  of  slavery. 

Since  the  Civil  War  the  intermixing  of  whites 


520 


HOLM'S    RACE   ASSIMILATION 


REV.  J.  W.  WOOD,  D.  D. 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SP.OTS  521 

and  blacks  has  abated  but  little  in  some  sections 
of  the  South,  and  the  habit  continues  just  as  it 
did  in  the  days  of  slavery.  The  relations  of 
whites  and  blacks  in  this  respect,  in  some  com- 
munities of  the  South,  are  inseparable.  There 
is  no  legislation  or  physical  force  that  can  keep 
them  apart  or  entirely  segregated. 

The  art  of  love-making  is  prevalent  between 
the  races,  and  it  is  puzzling  to  know  when  it 
will  end. 

2.  To  understand  the  situation  more  fully 
we  shall  now  speak,  secondly,  of  the  Afro-Amer- 
ican as  he  is  now.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the 
1 3th,  I4th  and  i5th  amendment  of  the  Con- 
stitution purported  to  give  the  Negro  all 
rights  as  an  American  citizen.  Freedom  dawned 
upon  the  race  at  the  time  when  it  was  entirely 
unprepared  to  appreciate  its  real  worth  and 
meaning,  because  of  previous  conditions  and 
ignorance.  Northern  philanthropists  just  at 
this  time  were  eager  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the 
unfortunate  blacks.  They  sent  missionaries  and 
teachers  to  the  Southland  for  the  purpose  of  edu- 
cating the  Negro  and  lifting  him  from  the  gut- 
ter of  vice  and  immorality,  to  make  him  a  clean 
and  responsible  citizen,  to  prepare  him  for  the 
responsibilities  of  American  citizenship,  to  teach 
him  the  worth  of  the  ballot,  to  train  him  to 
handle  the  affairs  of  state  and  government,  to 


522  HOLM'S   RACE   ASSIMILATION 

be  legislators,  governors,  representatives,  con- 
gressmen; to  prepare  him  to  meet  every  political 
issue  intelligently  and  to  install  in  him  self-re- 
liance, moral  culture  and  that  refinement  so 
characteristic  of  the  Anglo-American.  For  this 
and  other  purposes  the  northern  white  man  has 
given  millions  of  dollars. 

Education  has  made  the  Negro  a  mighty  unit 
in  the  present-day  history  of  the  American  na- 
tion. His  refinement  and  great  depth  of  learn- 
ing and  high  moral  character  has  lifted  him  to 
the  high  standard  of  America's  best  citizens. 
Now,  this  being  true,  the  Negro  who  is  worthy 
should  be  accorded  every  right  that  belongs  to 
him  as  a  citizen.  No  civil,  political  or  social 
rights  should  be  denied  him  because  of  his  color. 
If  he  has  the  ability  and  ambition  to  be  a  teacher, 
minister,  lawyer,  physician,  legislator,  congress- 
man or  President  of  these  United  States,  his 
color  should  not  stand  in  the  way  of  his  progress. 

But  the  Anglo-American  says  he  is  inferior, 
and  not  even  fit  for  American  citizenship.  .And 
that  he  is  wholly  unprepared  to  cast  a  ballot,  or 
to  have  a  voice  in  the  law-making  bodies  of  the 
country.  They  tell  us  by  the  enactment  of  dis- 
criminating laws  that  we  are  not  fit  to  ride  in  the 
same  car  with  white  men,  unfit  to  ride  in  a  sleep- 
ing car  in  the  South,  unfit  to  put  up  at  the  same 
hotel,  unfit  to  dine  at  the  same  table,  unfit  to 
drink  from  the  same  fount,  to  sit  together  in 


OR   THE   FADING   LEOPARD'S    SPOTS  523 

theatres,  to  amuse  ourselves  together  in  public 
places  and  the  like. 

There  are  colored  men  and  women  whose  lives 
are  above  reproach,  and  whose  refinement  and 
good  behavior  is  equal  to  the  best  Caucasian 
blood  on  American  soil,  and  yet  they  are  denied 
the  rights  of  citizens  and  discriminated  against 
in  almost  every  walk  of  life. 

We  have  only  one  hope,  we  know  that  Provi- 
dence is  not  asleep,  Justice  will  awake  in  favor 
of  the  dark-skinned  man.  Chinese,  Japanese 
and  all  Asiatic  races  come  to  our  country  and 
are  accorded  the  privilege  of  American  citizen- 
ship and  social  equality,  and  many  of  these  are 
no  better  than  the  Negro  race  and  some  morally 
not  as  good. 

Whilewe  must  admit  that  wehave  some  friends 
in  the  South  who  rejoice  in  the  progress  of  the 
Negro,  the  spirit  of  the  South  is  to  keep  the 
Negro  in  the  background,  and  in  political 
slavery.  The  South  predicted  the  downfall  of 
the  government,  but  their  fondest  expectations 
failed  and  their  cause  was  lost.  God  has  decreed 
otherwise — that  the  Negro  should  be  free.  This 
same  God  lives  today,  and  we  believe  that  He 
will  do  right. 

3.  I  shall  now  speak  of  the  Afro-American 
Negro  as  he  will  be  in  the  future. 

Every  indication  points  to  a  happy  solution 
of  the  vexed  race  problem.  His  wonderful 


524  HOLM'S   RACE  ASSIMILATION 

achievement  since  his  physical  emancipation  has 
been  phenomenal.  He  has  been  able  through 
efforts  of  his  own  and  the  assistance  of  the 
philanthropist  to  reduce  his  ignorance  sixty  per 
cent.  The  vast  accumulation  of  property,  the 
improvements  in  the  home-life,  the  educational 
and  religious  advancement  and  economic  and 
industrial  progress  that  have  been  made  within 
the  last  few  years  are  indicative  of  the  fact  that 
ere  long  the  Negro  will  find  his  place  just  a  lit- 
tle higher  up  in  the  social  world.  The  future 
is  pregnant  and  freighted  with  political  and 
social  rights  of  the  Afro-American  Negro. 

The  Negro's  Star  of  Social  Emancipation  has 
been  seen  upon  the  horizon  of  the  times.  We 
may  have  bitter  experiences,  the  race  may  suffer 
much  as  a  result  of  mob  violence;  doors  may  be 
closed  in  our  faces,  but  it  matters  not  what  the 
discriminations  nor  how  severe  the  punishment, 
the  day  is  coming  when  the  rights  of  every  man 
will  be  respected,  whether  he  be  white,  yellow, 
brown  or  black.  The  time  will  come  when  the 
white  man  and  the  black  man  will  stand  upon 
terms  of  social  equality  in  all  things.  As  he 
has  admitted  the  Chinese,  the  Japanese,  the 
Malays  and  all  other  Asiatic  races  to  social 
equality,  he  will  in  time  admit  the  Negro  and 
they  will  be  brothers,  working  together  for  the 
betterment  and  the  advancement  of  the  Master's 
Kingdom. 


OR  THE   FADING  LEOPARD'S   SPOTS  525 

4.  In  my  concluding  remarks  I  shall  speak 
of  the  Afro-American ;  his  social  relations  with 
other  races  than  his  own,  and  the  final  end  of  the 
present-day  bickering.  It  is  a  known  fact  that 
the  Anglo-American  throughout  the  country 
offers  no  social  inducements  to  the  Negro,  es- 
pecially in  the  Southland.  Forces  are  at  work 
in  every  section  of  the  country  to  keep  the  two 
races  apart  socially,  but  regardless  of  what  may 
be  done  or  said,  this  barrier  is  being  broken 
down  by  the  individual  man  and  woman.  While 
we  know  that  discrimination  and  color  castes  is 
a  sin  and  is  wrong,  we  also  know  that  the  ques- 
tion of  social  equality  will  in  time  adjust  itself 
— eventually  it  will  force  itself  upon  both  races, 
each  race  will  be  a  victim  within  itself,  and 
prejudice  and  color  line  will,  from  circum- 
stances or  necessity,  have  to  be  entirely  wiped 
out.  Old  Father  Time  is  gradually  bleaching  the 
Negro  race  and  is  removing  stainspots  from  the 
character  of  the  race.  Ignorance  is  giving  place 
to  intelligence,  wretchedness  and  wickedness  is 
giving  place  to  righteousness  and  justice,  pov- 
erty is  giving  place  to  wealth,  and  prejudice  is 
giving  place  to  love  of  freedom  and  good  will 
toward  all  men.  This  we  believe  to  be  the 
course  of  Divine  Providence.  We  have  noticed 
too,  that  white  men  have  greater  respect  for  the 
educated  and  more  intelligent  members  of  the 


526  HOLM'S    RACE    ASSIMILATION 

race,  than  they  have  for  the  unlearned  and  lower 
classes. 

It  seems  that  the  best  white  people  are  eager 
to  come  into  closer  relations  with  the  better  class 
of  Negroes.  It  is  plain  to  us  all  that  education 
has  not  driven  the  whites  and  blacks  apart  to  any 
alarming  extent,  but  on  the  other  hand  has 
brought  them  closer  together  in  a  social  way. 
SOCIAL  EQUALITY  IS  AS  SURE  TO  COME  AS  THERE 
IS  A  GOD.  It  will  begin  to  exert  itself  among  the 
more  intelligent -of  both  races,  and  in  proportion 
to  the  real  moral  worth  and  intelligence  of  the 
race,  just  in  that  proportion  will  social  equality 
dawn  upon  it. 

Again,  an  investigation  will  reveal  the  fact 
that  the  Negro  is  growing  brighter  with  each 
succeeding  generation,  and  this  of  itself  will  in 
time  equalize  the  races  socially.  I  visited  one 
of  our  institutions  of  learning  last  year  and  to 
my  utter  surprise,  out  of  two  hundred  pupils  in 
the  school  building  that  day,  there  were  only  six 
black  children,  all  the  rest  were  from  a  dark 
brown  to  white!  In  the  course  of  time  the 
Negro  race  will  be  a  race  of  "white  Negroes," 
and  so  mixed  by  cross-blood  and  intermixing 
that  the  question  of  social  equality  and  equal 
rights  will  settle  itself  and  the  present-day  bick- 
ering will  come  to  an  end. 

JOHN  W.  WOOD. 


^\\E-UNIVER% 


from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


"%3AINfl-3^: 


RS/A       AGIOS' 

"-%  i  ~ 

f-^     i-"- 


